FBI: Mass shootings on the rise in America

The frequency of active shooter incidents in the U.S. has risen markedly in recent years, according to an FBI report released Wednesday.

The study identified 160 "active shooter" incidents from 2000 to 2013. (Per the FBI, an active shooter is defined as "an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.") In those 160 incidents, gunmen killed 486 people and injured another 557.

More shocking than the sheer carnage, though, is that the rate of shootings has spiked. There were an annual average of 6.4 active shooter incidents in the first seven years of the study; that average leapt to 16.4 per year over the last seven years of the study.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"The findings establish an increasing frequency of incidents annually," the report concludes, adding that the trend "reinforces the need to remain vigilant regarding prevention efforts and for law enforcement to aggressively train to better respond to — and help communities recover from — active shooter incidents."