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Gun violence and school shootings are a major threat to the US. Around 360 people are shot everyday in the US and 44% of all homicides include guns.

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Overview

Gun violence is a daily scourge that threatens our most fundamental right: the right to life. More than 600 people die every day as a result of firearms violence, which is driven in part by easy access to firearms - whether legal or illegal.

Anyone can be affected by gun violence, but it often disproportionately impacts people of colour, men and boys in deprived communities, and other marginalized groups. Domestic violence involving firearms also puts women at heightened risk of death or life-changing injuries.

Sometimes, the mere presence of firearms can make people feel threatened and fearful for their lives. They may be too afraid to attend schools or health facilities. Community-wide gun violence may prevent services from fully functioning, which can harm access to education or healthcare.

The vast majority of gun violence occurs outside of armed conflict settings. A significant proportion - in some states more than half - of firearm deaths are caused by suicide and accidents.

Our human rights are not protected if our leaders fail to tackle and end the epidemic of gun violence and gun deaths.

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What is gun violence?

Gun violence is violence committed with firearms, such as handguns, shotguns, or semi-automatic rifles. More than 600 people are estimated to die every day from gun violence with two-thirds of gun-related deaths, including suicides, occurring in just six countries (in descending order): Brazil, the USA, Venezuela, Mexico, India and Colombia.

Up to 71% of all homicides globally involve gun violence. The majority of victims and perpetrators are young men, but women are at particular risk of violence from an intimate partner possessing a firearm. Sexual violence can also be perpetrated at gunpoint.

Firearms cause devastating injuries that leave a lasting impact on mental and physical health. Some gunshot victims need intensive, lifelong care. Others may lose their ability to work. Many have little or no access to programmes that offer adequate long-term care and rehabilitation.

How many guns are there?

More than 1 billion firearms are in circulation globally. The vast majority - 85%- are in the hand of private individuals, 13% are in military arsenals and 2% are owned by law enforcement agencies.

Gun violence committed by private individuals is typically concentrated in low-income urban neighbourhoods with high levels of crime, including drug trafficking. Many of these areas are blighted by inadequate policing or policing which does not comply with international standards on human rights and law enforcement, and a lack of access to public services.

Therefore, easy access to and proliferation of firearms, combined with socio-economic factors, can have a harmful impact on the community's full range of human rights.

Gun violence and the right to health
Gun violence can rob people of their lives, health and right to healthcare.
People living in communities plagued by firearm violence may find it difficult or even dangerous to access health care facilities. This is especially true in areas where neighbourhoods are partitioned by armed criminal gangs or subject to curfews due to insecurity.

Gun violence can also deter local authorities and NGOs from setting up community health services, and contributes to poor staff retention. Survivors of domestic violence often do not have the essential psychological support or safe accommodation they need in neighbourhoods wracked by firearm violence.

The psychological toll from rampant gun violence is often heavy, particularly for victims, their family members and those who have witnessed shootings. Survivors may be left with debilitating and life-changing injuries which require long-term medical and social care.

Gun violence and the right to education

Mass shootings and other firearm violence can disrupt children's education and make students' journeys to and from school dangerous.

Endemic gun violence damages the learning environment by disrupting school attendance and rates of retention, and makes it harder to recruit and retain teaching staff.

This can, in turn, lead to poorer outcomes for students in terms of employment and income. It can also perpetuate cycles of deprivation, crime and violence.

Gun violence exacerbates the impact of systemic discrimination.
In 2020, 60.9% of the 19,995 people killed by gun homicide in the US were African Americans, despite African Americans making up just 13% of the US population.

Black men and boys aged 15-34 are more than 10 times more likely to die from firearm homicide than white men and boys of the same age group.

Failure to address systemic discrimination; failure to keep firearms out of the hands of those most likely to misuse them; and a failure to invest in gun violence prevention programmes all contribute to this crisis.
Women facing domestic violence and children are also disproportionately affected by gun violence.
In 2020, the ratio of women in the Caribbean killed in gun violence was more than three times the global average. In the USA, guns are now the leading cause of death for children. Furthermore, between 2% and 7% of all injuries treated at US paediatric trauma centres are gun-related.

Gun Violence Figures Worldwide

How can governments stop gun violence?

Effectively implemented gun regulation and evidence-based violence prevention projects can stop the carnage.

As a first step, states should recognize firearm violence as a threat to people's human rights, in particular their rights to life, to physical integrity and security of person, and to health.

Gun regulation and gun licences

States can set up some basic systems to regulate how private individuals can own and use firearms and ammunition to prevent them from using firearms to abuse human rights.

International standards recommend prohibiting any possession of firearms without a licence; that states should register all firearms; and that unlicensed possession should be treated as a criminal offence.

A firearms licence should be subject to certain criteria. For example, the applicant should undergo a comprehensive background check to identify any risks, such as:

a criminal record - especially for violent behaviour in the home or community; history of gender-based, sexual or domestic violence;

history of problematic use of drugs/alcohol, emotional issues, mental health conditions and

any other circumstances which heighten the risks of the harm to self or others using firearms.

Gun licences should be time-limited and training on how to use the weapon should be mandatory. The number and type of weapons that an individual can possess should also be strictly limited in line with the principles of necessity and credible justification.

Some firearms and ammunition represent an unacceptable level of risk to public safety and should be banned for personal use. These should include, at a minimum, fully automatic firearms, semi-automatic assault rifles, semi-automatic shotguns and semi-automatic submachine guns.

Does gun reform work?

Yes, gun reform works. Almost all countries regulate gun acquisition, possession and use in some form. Most do this by licensing users and registering firearms.

Gun reform works in parts of the world where there are strict controls on access to firearms and well-enforced firearms regulations. This is the case for much of Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia. For example, in Japan, South Korea and Singapore, the rate of firearm violence is extremely low.

What does Amnesty do about gun violence?

Amnesty International is campaigning to strengthen regulations on firearm sale, transfer, use and possession. We support the creation of evidence-based violence reduction programmes in communities with persistently high levels of firearms violence.

You can stand up and remind our leaders of their obligation to keep us safe. You can play a crucial role in campaigning and protesting against gun violence and making it clear to governments that they must tackle this through strict controls on guns and effective interventions in communities suffering high levels of gun violence.
You have the power to tell governments that by using gun laws, we can all live safely and without fear - which is our right.

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We have the right to be safe from gun violence.

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February 14, 2018: Cause of the "March For Our Lives" Movement

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February 14, 2018: Cause of the "March For Our Lives" Movement

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The shooting occurred in Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. It resulted in the most fatal school shooting of all time in US history. This shooting ended up being the main cause for the "March For Our Lives" movement.

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Stoneman Douglas High School shooting - Wikipedia

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February 14th, 2018: Why did Cruz shoot? Why Valentine's day?

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February 14th, 2018: Why did Cruz shoot? Why Valentine's day?

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Cruz was diagnosed to be a sociopath- he tortured animals to no extent and proceeded with the shooting purely because he felt like it. He did it on Valentine's day because he thought no one loved him and he hated it, so he wanted to make it worse for everyone else.

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz calmly told a psychologist why he picked Valentine's Day to massacre 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago: Because no one loved him, he wanted to ruin the holiday forever for anyone associated with the school.

Prosecutors concluded their rebuttal case Thursday after playing that video clip from jailhouse interviews Cruz did with their psychologist hoping it bolsters their contention that he wasn't driven to kill by a mental disorder he couldn't control, but planned his attack and chose to carry it out.

They are trying to convince jurors they should sentence Cruz, 24, to death for the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at the suburban Fort Lauderdale school. He pleaded guilty a year ago. For the former Stoneman Douglas student to receive a death sentence, the seven-man, five-woman jury must be unanimous. Otherwise, his sentence will be life without parole.

Cruz's attorneys have contended throughout the trial that his birth mother's heavy drinking during pregnancy left him with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, causing brain dysfunctions that led to lifelong episodes of bizarre, erratic and sometimes violent conduct that culminated with the shootings. After several attempts that were blocked by Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, they were also able to tell jurors Thursday that Cruz believes he was raped and sexually molested numerous times by a neighbor when he was 9.

Robert Denney, a Missouri neuropsychologist testifying for the prosecution, interviewed and tested Cruz last March over three days - under Florida law, if defense attorneys argue their client has a mental deficiency, prosecutors get to conduct their own examination.

Denney testified earlier that he believes Cruz purposely did poorly on tests in an attempt to mimic severe brain dysfunction. He reiterated his belief Thursday that Cruz does not have fetal alcohol issues, but has antisocial personality disorder - in lay terms, he's a sociopath.

He said Cruz understands reality and can control his actions when it suits him. He said that differentiates antisocial personality disorder from schizophrenia or delusions, where the person acts on false thoughts they can't control.

Assistant prosecutor Jeff Marcus played two videos from Denney's interviews with Cruz. In the first, Cruz describes his torture of animals such as toads and lizards as a child, an issue that has been raised several times.

"I burned, I tortured them, I skinned them alive, I shot them," Cruz said without emotion. "I would play with their dead bodies or I would eat them."

In the second video, Denney asks Cruz as he is finishing his second and final day of interviews is there "anything important that I haven't asked you?"

Cruz thought for about 10 seconds and then responded, "Why I chose Valentine's Day." He then explained.

"Because I thought no one would love me," Cruz said. "I didn't like Valentine's Day and I wanted to ruin it for everyone." A soft gasp went up from victim's parents and relatives sitting in the courtroom.

"Do you mean for the family members of the kids that were killed?" Denney asked.

"No, for the school," Cruz replied. The holiday will never be celebrated there again, he said.

Marcus then read off the names of the 17 victims and after each asked Denney if fetal alcohol syndrome could explain why Cruz murdered that person. No, Denney replied 17 times.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Casey Secor, Denney conceded Cruz said in their interviews he has memories of being molested and raped by a neighbor who was three years older. It is an issue the defense has wanted to present several times, but Judge Scherer ruled that the only three people who can corroborate the accusation aren't available. Cruz's adoptive mother, Lynda Cruz, died months before the shootings and the alleged rapist and his mother no longer live in the United States and can't be forced to appear as witnesses.

In video clips played for the jury, Cruz told Denney and another expert his mom tried to convince him the molestation never happened, but he is 75% to 80% certain it did. He said the older boy would tell him he could play his video games if he let him molest him.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday. Deliberations would begin on Wednesday.

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School shooter chose Valentine's Day to ruin it forever

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz calmly told a psychologist why he picked Valentine's Day to massacre 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School four years ago: Because no one loved him, he wanted to ruin the holiday forever for anyone associated with the school.

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March 24, 2018: First March following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

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March 24, 2018: First March following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

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The first march is occurring a month after the MSDHS shooting, and is led by its survivors in order to honor and protest their deaths. Held on March 24th, 2018 in Washington, its main goal is to address and take legal action on gun use and its control.

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What you should know about the March for Our Lives | CNN

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Survivors of last month's deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, are preparing to take their fight for stricter gun control laws to Washington.

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March 24th, 2018: Emma Gonzalez's Speech - An influential and passionate leader to all students in political movements

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March 24th, 2018: Emma Gonzalez's Speech - An influential and passionate leader to all students in political movements

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Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the Parkland shooting, 18 and from Cuba, is one of the major leaders of the March for Our Lives movement. Her passion and ferociousness in calling out the country's leaders and the NRA helped her lead the march for justice. Her speech included calling out the NRA and the leaders of the country on their inactivity regarding gun restrictions as well as impactfully displaying the scenes of the shooting through speech.

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What we know about Emma Gonzalez, the fiercely outspoken teen who stunned America with her silence | CNN

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She’s of Cuban descent, she’s 18 and she is not afraid to speak truth to power.

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August 2nd, 2018: Impacts of the march; states pass more, stricter gun laws

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August 2nd, 2018: Impacts of the march; states pass more, stricter gun laws

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In response to the movement, state legislators started passing laws for restricted gun access. Over 4 months after the march and a Las Vegas shooting, 50 gun laws were finally passed. However, the NRA is still working behind the scenes to defeat this legislation.

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Something familiar happened in America in February: A gunman walked into a school, and shot and killed 17 students and staff in a horrific act of violence.

But then something unfamiliar happened: State legislators - inspired by a movement led by the student survivors of that mass shooting in Parkland, Florida - started passing legislation to restrict gun access.

This was a year of unparalleled success for the gun-control movement in the United States. States across the country, including 14 with Republican governors, enacted 50 new laws restricting access to guns, ranging from banning bump stocks to allowing authorities to temporarily disarm potentially violent people.

"Legislators are starting to realize that mass shootings can happen in their state anytime," said Allison Anderman, the managing attorney at the Giffords Law Center, a gun-control organization founded by former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who survived a shooting in 2011. "And they don't want to be in a position that this kind of thing can happen in their state at all."

State lawmakers still managed to expand gun access with at least 10 new laws in seven states. These measures - from allowing guns in K-12 schools to bolstering "stand your ground" laws - continued to carry weight in certain parts of the country, even as the gun-control movement steadily gained steam elsewhere.

Before the October shooting in Las Vegas, when a gunman used a bump stock attachment to quickly kill 58 people and wound 851 others, Hawaii lawmaker Karl Rhoads hadn't given much thought to the devices, which can enable semiautomatic rifles to fire at the rate of fully automatic weapons, which are more strictly regulated.

But after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, the Democratic state representative crafted legislation to make bump stocks illegal. The bill passed in a unanimous vote, and Democratic Gov. David Ige signed it in July.

"It was just obvious to everybody," Rhoads said. "Hunters don't use them. It's a mass murder improvement tool."

Riding the wave of political will inspired by Parkland and feeling revolted by the mayhem of Las Vegas, 10 states in the past year have banned bump stocks.

Evan Hughes, the vice president of NRA Foundation Projects at the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, a gun rights group, said, however, these bans are "unenforceable and will do nothing to deter violent crime." Vermont was one of the states that passed a bump stock ban this year.

In Hawaii, which has an estimated 1.6 million registered guns, according to the state attorney general's office - around 150,000 more guns than residents - some people have legitimate reasons to own firearms, Rhoads said, alluding to the state's feral pig problem. But, he said, there's still a desire to pass gun-safety measures. Hawaii has some of the strictest gun laws and fewest gun deaths in the country, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

"For us, it's taking away the final loopholes," Rhoads said.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently dealt a blow to Hawaii's strict gun laws when a three-judge panel ruled in July that the state's requirement for a gun license violates the U.S. Constitution. The state, however, may appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

When the next legislative session starts in January, Rhoads said, he plans to either introduce or co-sponsor an extreme risk protection order bill, joining eight other states that have enacted similar laws in 2018. These measures, sometimes called "red flag" laws, allow law enforcement officials to disarm people who may be violent after receiving requests from police or family members.

Vermont, which until this year had some of the loosest gun laws in the country, passed several measures to tighten its laws, including a ban on guns in K-12 schools, a red-flag law, and a law that expands background checks and bans high-capacity magazines. Republican Gov. Phil Scott drew heated backlash from the state's gun owners for signing the bills, as some protesters called him a traitor.

Colorado may soon move on this issue. Disturbed by the recent shooting of a sheriff's deputy, a bipartisan group of elected officials in the Centennial State want to renew a debate over the extreme risk protection order laws. Police say the man who killed the sheriff's deputy had a history of troubled mental health.

Before this year, five states had red-flag statutes, but the National Rifle Association is still working behind the scenes in state legislatures to defeat this legislation. Three bills remain under consideration this year in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. (The NRA did not respond to repeated attempts for comment.)

In Michigan, for example, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder suggested a red-flag law was worth studying after a double homicide at Central Michigan University this spring. Some fellow Republicans, though, worried about the due process rights of gun owners who may have their firearms unjustly stripped. The bill hasn't moved through the Legislature since being introduced in June.

Gun-control advocates also found success in six states expanding background checks, in five states tightening concealed carry laws, in nine states preventing domestic abusers from owning guns, in eight states providing funding for urban gun violence reduction programs, and in two states banning large-capacity magazines, according to a count by the Giffords Law Center.

How Momentum Shifted

Mass shootings are common in this country. According to the Gun Violence Archive, an oft-cited nonprofit that tracks shootings, there have been more than 200 mass shootings in the first seven months this year. Mass shootings are defined as attacks where there are four or more fatal and nonfatal injuries, not including the shooter.

Appalling shootings involving students aren't new either. There have been more than 260 school shootings since the national consciousness was shaken in 2012 when 20 first-graders and six school staff were slaughtered in Newtown, Connecticut, Gun Violence Archive data show.

But when the words "enough is enough" rang out from the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, all of them members of the mass shooting generation - the millions born after Columbine in 1999, who practiced "code red" drills at school their entire lives - lawmakers started listening.

"We are the generation that's had to be trapped in closets, waiting for police to come or waiting for a shooter to walk in to our door," Parkland survivor Alex Wind told "60 Minutes" in March. "We are the people that know what it's like firsthand."

In the moments after the shooting, they spoke up on national television to express their anger. They pressed Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson, their Republican and Democratic U.S. senators, in a CNN town hall. They organized protests at state capitols to push lawmakers to pass gun-control measures, and in March organized a rally, the "March for Our Lives," where hundreds of thousands of people in Washington and at more than 800 partner rallies across the country demanded action from their elected officials. And all the while, they remained active on social media, battling lawmakers and pundits who didn't support their cause.

It's one of the reasons why Florida in March enacted a law that expanded background checks, banned bump stocks, allowed local authorities to temporarily restrict access for "red flag" gun owners, and added a three-day waiting period to purchase a handgun. The bill was signed by Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who is an ardent gun-rights advocate.

Not everyone gives the Parkland students credit for the new gun-control laws, however.

"I don't buy into the momentum they have," South Dakota Republican state Rep. Kevin Jensen said. "I think there's a pocket here and there, and they make news because the news media is anti-gun."

The last widespread success at enacting laws to curb gun violence came in 1994, when the federal assault-rifle ban passed, said Richard Aborn, who at the time led the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, one of the loudest voices during that debate. Since then, he said, there hasn't been national momentum for more gun-control legislation.

A Pew Research Center poll in 1993 showed that 57 percent of Americans thought controlling gun ownership should be a priority in the United States over protecting gun rights. (The Pew Charitable Trusts funds both the Pew Research Center and Stateline.) But in the past decade, the views of Americans shifted.

Two years after the Newtown massacre, 52 percent of Americans said it was more important to support gun rights, while just 46 percent prioritized restricting gun ownership, according to a Pew poll. President Barack Obama tried and failed to persuade Congress to pass comprehensive background checks or another ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.

It's been nearly six years since Newtown, and as Stateline reported earlier this year, most of the hundreds of state gun laws enacted in that time have expanded, rather than restricted, access to firearms.

But, now, there's a change in the gun debate, said Aborn, who is the president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, a criminal justice nonprofit that advocates for gun violence prevention. The student survivors of Parkland have been able to score victories in the political arena by immediately organizing, he said, and it's made a major difference in state legislatures.

"This is the emergence of the second gun-control movement," Aborn said. "This is the cumulative effect of all of the shootings since Newtown."

What Comes Next

Opponents of gun-control bills also have had some successes this year.

South Dakota's Jensen, who thinks his state gun laws "could be eased up a little bit," co-sponsored a new law this year that authorizes nonpublic schools and houses of worship to allow firearms on premises. South Dakota already allows armed sentinels at public K-12 schools through a law that was passed after Newtown.

"Out in this part of the country, 'no guns allowed' signs mean squat here," he said. "We're a rural state, and a local sheriff's department response time may be well beyond the time to have a mass shooting."

When a gunman killed 25 worshippers including a pregnant woman, injuring 20 others, in November at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas - a small, rural town east of San Antonio - it wasn't police who first responded to the scene, but an armed neighbor who ran out of his home and shot the assailant twice.

South Dakota's law was among a handful of new measures that gun-rights advocates got through state legislatures this year. In Florida, the governor signed a law that allows K-12 school personnel to carry a firearm with authorization from a school district, while lawmakers in Idaho and Wyoming expanded "stand your ground" provisions. Measures to bring guns to K-12 schools failed in 19 states this year, while permitless carry bills failed in 11 states, including in Oklahoma, where the bill was vetoed by Republican Gov. Mary Fallin.

In Texas, which had its own school shooting in May - eight students and two teachers were killed, and 13 others injured - Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in July that neither he nor fellow Republican Gov. Greg Abbott support extreme risk protection order laws, and that he doubts a measure would garner the support of a majority of the Texas Senate. Instead, the state is looking at increasing police presence at schools, arming school staff and developing mental health screening programs.

Still, red-flag laws likely will remain a major focus for gun-control advocates over the next year, encouraged by the success they had in traditionally gun-friendly states such as Florida and Vermont.

"Comprehensive federal legislation is definitely the more desirable way to address gun violence," Anderman said. "But the reality being what it is, we have to do what we can and that means going state by state."

The fight is far from over for gun-control advocates. The next true test, Aborn said, will be the midterm elections in November and seeing how the gun issue plays with voters.

Currently, the same students from Parkland who organized the march are touring the country, going into more than 50 communities to register young people to vote and advocate for more gun-control policy, including universal background checks, digitizing Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives records, and bans on semi-automatic assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. They also plan on visiting all 27 congressional districts in their home state of Florida.

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After Parkland, States Pass 50 New Gun-Control Laws - Stateline

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This is Part Four of Stateline's 2018 Legislative Review. Something familiar happened in America in February: A gunman walked into a school, and shot and killed 17 students and staff in a horrific act of violence. But then something unfamiliar happened: State legislators - inspired by a movement led by the student survivors of that [...]

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March 14th, 2022: Mass shootout in Buffalo, NY; March 24th, 2022: Mass shootout in Uvalde, TX

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March 14th, 2022: Mass shootout in Buffalo, NY; March 24th, 2022: Mass shootout in Uvalde, TX

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1700 miles apart but only 10 days apart, two major mass shootings occur in May, 2022. Over 254 mass shootings occured after the first March For Our Lives in Parkland, and eventually sparked deadly shootouts in Robb Elementary, Uvalde and the Tops supermarkets in Buffalo.

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A man places flowers on crosses with the names of children killed outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Thursday. Dario Lopez-Mills/AP hide caption

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Dario Lopez-Mills/AP

A man places flowers on crosses with the names of children killed outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Thursday.

Dario Lopez-Mills/AP

In the span of less than two weeks, an elementary school and a grocery store more than 1,700 miles apart were shattered by gun violence. Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, N.Y., now both share the tragic loss of friends and family.

These two tragedies happened on separate ends of the country and yet, both share similarities: how the violence was carried out, certain aspects of the suspects, and the ease in which the weapons were accessed.

It's unclear as of now what the specific motive was in the Uvalde, Texas, shooter's mind. But the gunman responsible for the attack that killed 10 members of the Black community of Buffalo apparently chose the location specifically and that he was motivated by white supremacist ideology.

Though the motivations in these particular cases likely differ, the suspects of these shootings, and others like it, have a lot in common, according to James Densley and Jillian Peterson, co-founders of The Violence Project. Their research organization studies gun violence, mass shootings and violent extremism.

"Usually what's motivating these shootings is a element of self-hatred, hopelessness, despair, anger, that's turned outward to the world," said Densley, who is also a sociologist.

Connecting the two shootings is important, said Peterson, a psychologist.

"I think we're too quick to write things off because the motive is slightly different," she said. "It's the same trajectory over and over and over again. Just people get radicalized in slightly different directions, their anger points in different directions, but its roots are the same."

Children walk hand in hand in a street near the scene of a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. on May 15. Matt Rourke/AP hide caption

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Matt Rourke/AP

Children walk hand in hand in a street near the scene of a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. on May 15.

Matt Rourke/AP

The shooters were both 18 and male

Salvador Ramos was 18 years old and a high school dropout, according to officials.

Payton Gendron, is also 18, and white. He turned to various websites during the pandemic, according to a document allegedly written by him, and said he was radicalized that way.

He threatened his high school last year, prompting a visit from the New York State Police.

Densley and Peterson said they see two kinds of age clusters of mass shooters: Men in their mid-40s for those who are workplace shooters and school shooters or those involved in other types of mass shootings between the ages of 15 and 24.

Of the 180 instances of mass shootings in the U.S. they've studied, they found that there are only two cases where women acted alone.

It's always men otherwise, Peterson said.

"We know that 18 is this kind of fragile age, this kind of coming of age where people tend to have mental health crises, or they may feel suicidal," she said.

These shootings are emblematic of that.

The shooters have "the desire to have that pain, and that anger be known to the world, to have us all watch and witness it, to hear their names, to see their pictures, to read what they've left behind for us to read. These are public performances meant for us to watch," she said.

Notably, in many places in the U.S., it's also the age they can legally buy their weapons of choice.

The weapons are AR-15-style and bought legally

A rifle hangs on display in the window of the West Endicott & Susquehanna Arms Co., where Payton Gendron purchased firearms in Endicott, N.Y. Michael Hill/AP hide caption

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Michael Hill/AP

A rifle hangs on display in the window of the West Endicott & Susquehanna Arms Co., where Payton Gendron purchased firearms in Endicott, N.Y.

Michael Hill/AP

Like many mass shootings before them, the gunmen in these two cases used an AR-15-style rifle both bought legally.

In everyday instances of gun violence, assault rifles are used less than 1% of the time, according to Densley.

"In mass, public shootings, like the ones we're talking about here, it's over 25%," he said.

This happens so often because mass shooters copy each other and these guns have become the weapon of choice, he noted.

"One way you can guarantee that people will talk about your crime is if you use the props that others have used in their own performances," Densley said.

Additionally, the Buffalo shooter wore body armor as he went into the Buffalo grocery store.

According to The Washington Post, Ramos in Uvalde "wore a vest used to store extra magazines — often used by tactical police units — without the armor plates that law enforcement officers typically wear."

The Violence Project found that at least 21 mass shooters over the last 40 years have worn body armor – the majority in the last decade.

A person holds a program for the funeral service for Aaron Salter Jr. at The Chapel on Crosspoint on Wednesday, May 25, in Getzville, N.Y. Joshua Bessex/AP hide caption

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Joshua Bessex/AP

A person holds a program for the funeral service for Aaron Salter Jr. at The Chapel on Crosspoint on Wednesday, May 25, in Getzville, N.Y.

Joshua Bessex/AP

Communities of color were targeted

It's unclear yet what was the motive in the Uvalde shooting. The town has a population of about 15,000 people, more than 80% of whom identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. And about 1 in 5 lives below the poverty line.

The majority of those shot at a grocery store in the East Side of the Buffalo were Black.

Residents of both areas say they are a tight-knit community.

"Gun violence, in general, tends to affect our most disadvantaged communities. Our communities of color," Densley said. "It's often the most vulnerable members of our society who are the ones dealing with these problems."

Did you know we tell audio stories, too? Listen to our podcasts like No Compromise, our Pulitzer-prize winning investigation into the gun rights debate, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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2 mass shootings — 1,700 miles apart but bound by startling similarities

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These two tragedies share similarities, including certain aspects of the suspects and how the weapons were accessed.

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June 8th, 2022: Call for Action by parents of dead children

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June 8th, 2022: Call for Action by parents of dead children

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The shootouts have settled distress in a lot of people, especially the parents of the dead or injured children. The parents demanded action and wanted assault rifles and high magazine capacity guns to be banned. These calls for help sparked the rallies that occured 3 days later across the country.

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Parents of children injured and killed during last month's mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas, implored members of the House Oversight Committee to act quickly on gun control measures.

"If after hearing from me and the other people testifying here today does not move you to act on gun laws, I invite you to my home to help me to clean Zaire's wounds so that you may see up close the damage that has been caused to my son and my community," said Zeneta Everhart, mother of Zaire Goodman, a survivor of the Buffalo shooting.

The shooting in a Buffalo grocery store left 10 dead and three injured. The shooting in a Uvalde elementary school left 17 injured and 21 dead, including 19 children.

Kimberly and Felix Rubio, parents of Lexi Rubio, one of the students who died at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, testified virtually, calling for members to ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, to raise the age to purchase assault weapons from 18 to 21 years of age, to implement red flag laws and to strengthen background checks and to repeal gun manufacturers liability immunity. The policy suggestions mirror President Biden's list of proposals.

And Miah Cerrillo, a fourth grade student at Robb Elementary School, testified in a prerecorded video to members that she used her friend's blood to pretend to be dead while calling 911 for help. She said she fears another incident will happen again.

"He shot my friend Elizabeth and I thought he was going to come back into the room so I grabbed the blood and I put it all over me," she said. Miah's father testified in person, asking for some sort of action to help protect kids in schools, noting how difficult it has been for his family since the shooting.

And Dr. Roy Guerrero, the president of Uvalde Memorial Hospital, recounted his experience of being at the hospital as children were being transported and parents were needing answers.

"I raced to the hospital to find parents outside yelling children's names in desperation and sobbing as they begged for any news related to their child," he said. "Those mothers' cries I will never get out of my head."

Meanwhile, Lucretia Hughes of the DC Project and Women for Gun Rights, the witness put forward by Republicans, came forward to argue that more laws will not make a difference in reducing rates of gun violence.

"Y'all are delusional if you think it's going to keep us safe," said Hughes, who lost her own teenage son in gun-related incident. "At Women for Gun Rights, we believe that education is the key to safety, not ineffective legislation."

Members of Congress have spent the last few days listening to testimony of those affected by recent mass shootings. Wednesday's hearing came as House members are expected to vote on a package of bills Wednesday afternoon that would expand federal gun regulations. Despite calls for action from parents who lost children, the House measures are expected to stall in the Senate as lawmakers there move forward with separate negotiations on a narrow set of proposals.

But lawmakers in both chambers are moving ahead with their talks, despite proposals unlikely to pass both chambers and make it to the president's desk.

"We are not going to surrender our policy power and responsibility to the Senate," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who sits on the Judiciary panel that advanced the bills the House is looking to pass, told NPR. "We're going to legislate in a way that meets the immensity and gravity of the problem. ... If the Senate comes back with something diluted or inferior to that, we'll have to reckon with that as a part of the process."

Following the House testimony Wednesday, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., told reporters that he has hope a deal can be reached despite the ideological splits.

"There is always the possibility of hope," he told NPR. "And maybe hearing this testimony some of my colleagues will actually do the right thing."

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Parents of recent mass shooting victims urge Congress to act on gun control

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Parents of children injured and killed during last month's mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas, implored members of the House Oversight Committee to act quickly on gun control measures.

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June 11th, 2022: Over 450 Marches and Rallies for Uvalde and Buffalo by the "March For Our Lives" Movement

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June 11th, 2022: Over 450 Marches and Rallies for Uvalde and Buffalo by the "March For Our Lives" Movement

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On June 11th, 2022, more than 450 rallies were organized by the March for Our Lives movement leaders. The rallies forced the government to throw out much needed restrictions on gun usage. The second "march" of the March for Our Lives movement, 4 years later, has taken place.

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WASHINGTON - Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in hundreds of protests across the country Saturday to push lawmakers to take action on gun violence in the wake of recent mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.

Protesters have turned out to more than 450 rallies nationwide, with the largest gathering taking place in Washington, D.C., which started at noon and ended at 2 p.m.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser drew loud cheers from the crowd there as she called for common sense gun laws, including mandatory background checks and a ban on assault rifles.

"We don't have to live like this," she said, adding that people in other countries "don't live like this."

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., shared a story of having been in an abusive relationship when she was younger in which her partner shot at her multiple times. "That moment when gun violence strikes is so dramatic and so preventable," she said. "I didn't know when he would stop."

The rallies were organized by March for Our Lives, a youth-driven organization first created by students who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.

In Parkland, where the movement began, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Pine Trails Park Amphitheater Saturday morning to demand background checks for all gun sales, the implementation of " red-flag" laws and an increase in the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.

Manuel Oliver, whose son, Joaquin, was among those killed in Parkland, also addressed the crowd in Washington. "Our elected officials betrayed us and have avoided the responsibility to end gun violence," he said, calling for students not to attend school until elected officials "stop avoiding the crisis of gun violence in America."

At around 1:30 p.m., a person standing near a group of counter-protesters began to yell during a moment of silence for victims of gun violence, prompting some in the crowd to run away. Several attendees were seen crying after the incident.

Katie Hathaway, an attendee who traveled from Florida for the march, said the incident was "traumatizing." She heard a shout and everyone started running.

Shortly after, a man took to the stage to reassure the crowd, saying, "There is no threat."

According to U.S. park police, the individual who interfered with the event "was detained by officers." No weapons were involved, police said.

As talks on gun restrictions continue on Capitol Hill, the House passed a "red-flag" bill Thursday that would allow a judge to take firearms away from individuals who pose an imminent danger to themselves or others. The legislation, which drew five Republican votes, is viewed as having a greater chance of advancing than some of the other bills in the evenly split Senate.

On Wednesday, the House also passed a series of new gun measures, which include raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. That legislative package is all but guaranteed to fail in the upper chamber because of Republican opposition.

"We need to put aside our politics and save our kids and loved ones from this senseless and horrific violence before it impacts them," David Hogg, a 2018 graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the co-founder of March for Our Lives, said in a statement ahead of the rallies.

According to Serena Rodrigues, a national coordinator for March for Our Lives, the organization participated in 71 meetings with elected officials on Capitol Hill this past week.

"I feel confident that we'll get something probably like universal background checks," she told NBC News. "But we'll keep pushing for more."

Since March for Our Lives last organized nationwide protests in 2018, mass shootings have become increasingly more frequent.

At least 254 mass shootings have taken place in the U.S. so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. These include the Uvalde and Buffalo shootings.

"We're coming out of Covid and people are trying to go back to normal, get back into schools and into work, but I think as a society right now, we're realizing that this is not the normal we want to go back to," Rodrigues said.

In Buffalo, a white gunman killed 10 people and wounded three other in a local supermarket in a Black neighborhood on May 14, in a shooting authorities deemed a " racially motivated, hate crime."

Garnell Whitfield Jr. whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth, was fatally gunned down during that attack, said he was at the Washington protest to demand sensible gun reform.

"We hear a lot about prayer and prayer is wonderful," he said on stage in front of a crowd of several hundred people. "But prayer requires action. You pray and then you get up and walk."

In New York, where at least a dozen separate rallies were expected to take place, music duo Aly and AJ spoke at one of the demonstrations about surviving a mass shooting while being on tour.

"Aly and I actually grew up shooting. Our parents even owned guns. We know about gun safety," AJ said. "But after the string of deaths that continue to flood our news I never want to step foot on a shooting range again."

"I never want to shoot a gun for fun again. There is nothing fun about guns when you know the damage they can do," she said.

Responding to calls for stricter gun laws, some Republicans have proposed increasing mental health services to help prevent the next tragedy. But experts in the field say blaming mental health is a deflection from the fact that gun control is a necessary part of prevention.

"Let's stop using mental health as a scapegoat from confronting white supremacy in our country," Hogg told the crowd.

Ten days after the Buffalo shooting, 19 students, mostly fourth graders, and two teachers were killed by a gunman who entered an elementary school in Uvalde on May 24.

The president of March for Our Lives in Parkland, Zoe Weissman, told MSNBC she was rehearsing for a play when she heard about the assault in Uvalde.

Attending middle school next door to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at the time of the Parkland shooting, Weissman, now 16, recalled feeling devastated by the news from Uvalde, saying she would continue to fight against gun violence to prevent more children from being killed and from living with the life-long trauma that comes with surviving a mass shooting.

In 2020, guns became the leading cause of death among people between the age of 1 and 19 in the U.S., more than vehicle crashes, drugs overdoses or cancer.

Zoe Touray, who survived a shooting at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit nearly seven months ago, showed up to the rally in Washington in the hope that this time something would be done to save more lives.

"I wasn't old enough to remember the last march. I probably was in middle school," Touray said. "So, to be able to see it all come to fruition in person, it gave me so much more optimism."
Nicole Acevedo reported from New York, Aria Bendix and Janelle Griffith reported from Washington, D.C.

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'March for Our Lives' protests against gun violence sweep nation following hundreds of mass shootings

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Protesters will be participating in more than 450 rallies across the country Saturday in an effort to advance "common sense national and state gun safety restrictions," organizers said.

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August 27th, 2022: Pleas for gun restrictions and rallies continue as governor Abbott is not acting

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August 27th, 2022: Pleas for gun restrictions and rallies continue as governor Abbott is not acting

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The Governor of Texas, Abbott, has still not taken action on gun restrictions despite the rallies and the shooting. However, the pleas and rallies do not stop as they demand gun access to be pushed back from 18 to 21. The crowd also demands Abbott to be replaced effective immediately.

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March For Our Lives held a rally in front of the state capitol in Austin Saturday with parents who lost their children in the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, families and survivors from a 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School, and youth activists, to demand action on gun safety from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

"Three months since the horrifying and preventable tragedy at Robb Elementary School, Governor Abbott still hasn't taken action to keep kids safe and prevent gun violence. With kids across Texas going back to school in the coming weeks, Abbott's inaction is unconscionable," March For Our Lives said in a statement Friday.

Victims and families of those killed in shootings demanded Abbott call a special session to raise the minimum age to purchase an assault weapon in Texas from 18 to 21.

"These weapons belong in the military, they belong in the war, not in the classroom," said Maggie Mireles, the sister of elementary school teacher Eva Mireles, who was killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde.

Many speakers, including Mireles, called for Texans to vote Abbott out of office.

Mireles said when her family met with Abbott they asked him to change gun laws. "He said he would be hard at work to do that and that has not happened," she said.

The crowd could be heard chanting "vote him out," referring to Abbott, and "raise the age," between speakers.

Speakers included parents of children killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School, families of teachers killed, and families and survivors from mass shootings across the country.

"It is time to stop using mental issues as an excuse for these mass shootings. When in reality it's making easy access for teens to purchase ARs," said Belinda Arriola, whose granddaughter Amory Garza was killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting in May.

Arriola criticized Abbott for his lack of action on gun control and called on him to call a special session to raise the age limit for assault weapon purchases, saying it should have been done three months ago.

"You disgracefully, disrespectfully uttered these words: 'the tragedy in Uvalde could have been worse.' No governor, the tragedy in Uvalde should have never happened in the first place,"Arriola said.

Families impacted by the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018 also gathered, echoing promises of change made by lawmakers that were never fulfilled.

"We were promised a lot of things. We asked for a lot of things and nothing ever changed," a speaker whose son was killed in the Santa Fe shooting and was only identified as Rosie said. "Greg Abbott, I am asking you to do something. You sat us at a round table, you promised a bunch of things to us and you failed us."

Rosie added, "We're never going to stop a school shooting, we cannot fool ourselves that that we can do that. But we can make it harder. And we need the people that empower to make it harder."

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Uvalde victims, families call for special session at March For Our Lives rally

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March For Our Lives held a rally in front of the state capitol in Austin Saturday with parents who lost their children in the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, families and survivors from a 2018 shooting at Santa Fe High School, and youth activists, to demand action on gun safety from Texas Gov.

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I believe the first march of the movement in Washington, DC to honor the Parkland victims and to bring justice, was the strongest turning point in the movement because it was the first gun violence movement in over 20 years, and finally caused action regarding gun restrictions.