America’s Violent Holidays

On July 4th, 2023, there were sixteen mass shootings, resulting in fifteen people being killed, with another 94 injured. The shootings occurred across thirteen states as well as in Washington DC.

The Gun Violence Archive’s definition of a mass shooting (this database of mass shootings is managed by North Eastern university professor, James Alan Fox), is an incident where four or more people are killed or injured (excluding the shooter), due to the use of firearms.

It should be noted that not all of these events involve what would be described as an “Active Shooter” incident, as many of these incidents were the result of arguments between individuals and groups, rather than the indiscriminate selection of targets which tends to characterize active shooter incidents.

The US Homeland Security’s definition of an active shooter incident is one where, active shooters have “no pattern or method for the selection of their targets.” However, it is worth noting that even in active shooter incidents, although specific individuals may not be targeted, specific populations and groups usually are i.e., whether that’s a particular school, a workplace, a religious site etc.

Even when there may seem to be little reason to target a particular group, such as country and western music fans attending the Las Vegas, Route 91 Harvest musical…