For such a horrific crime, mass shootings do not seem to warrant much statistical attention in the U.S.
Despite the massive media coverage that accompanies tragedies such as last week’s brutal killings of nine people at a Charleston church, accurate national statistics are hard to come by. The FBI, the nation’s highest-ranking law enforcement agency, only has a voluntary reporting system for mass shootings that it does not investigate directly.
In recent years, researchers at Stanford University have been trying to fill the information void by creating a database on U.S. mass shootings since 1966. While still incomplete, it offers a large set of data, including 11 mass shootings here in Georgia that killed a total of 32 people.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has created an interactive graphic for subscribers that looks at the known statistics from the past 49 years. It breaks down the information on the shooters, the locations, and types of weapons. You can see it here.
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