Category Archives: Mass killings

Gun control, Gun violence, Mass killings, Mass shootings

Epidemic of 133 Mass Shootings in the US over the first 98 days of 2021

161 Killed and 524 Injured in just the MASS shootings so far this year (4 or more victims)

By Roger Straw, April 9, 2021

The Gun Violence Archive shows so much more than just numbers.  Each number represents the horrific story of friends’ and families’ nightmare.  See the numbers below, and so much more at Gun Violence Archive.

“Mass Shootings are, for the most part an American phenomenon. While they are generally grouped together as one type of incident they are several with the foundation definition being that they have a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident.”

TOTAL OF 133 MASS SHOOTINGS JAN. 1 TO APR. 8, 161 KILLED, 524 INJURED
Source: Gun Violence Archive: https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/ where you can read details on each incident, and much more.
Incident Date State City Or County Address # Killed # Injured
8-Apr-21 Texas Bryan 350 Stone City Dr 1 5
7-Apr-21 South Carolina Rock Hill 4456 Marshall Rd 6 1
7-Apr-21 Wisconsin Milwaukee 2627 W Capitol Dr 2 2
6-Apr-21 District of Columbia Washington 4100 block of Ames St NE 0 4
6-Apr-21 Michigan Detroit 6100 block of Lodewyck St 1 3
5-Apr-21 Illinois Chicago 6800 block of S Justine Ave 0 7
5-Apr-21 Maryland Baltimore 300 block of N Eutaw St 0 5
4-Apr-21 Louisiana Monroe 207 Sterlington Rd 0 6
4-Apr-21 Alabama Birmingham 3969 14th Ave N 1 5
4-Apr-21 Texas Beaumont 6035 S M L King Jr Pkwy 0 4
3-Apr-21 North Carolina Wilmington 718 Kidder St 3 4
3-Apr-21 Alabama Tuscaloosa 2314 4th St 0 5
3-Apr-21 Texas Allen 1517 Pine Bluff Dr 6 0
3-Apr-21 Florida Quincy 2114 Pat Thomas Parkway 0 7
31-Mar-21 California Orange 202 West Lincoln Ave 4 2
31-Mar-21 District of Columbia Washington 1300 block of Congress St SE 2 3
28-Mar-21 Ohio Cleveland 5100 Pearl Rd 0 7
28-Mar-21 Illinois Chicago I-57 and W 127th St 0 4
28-Mar-21 Maryland Essex 1601 Middleborough Rd 5 1
28-Mar-21 Texas San Antonio 2011 Dollarhide Ave 0 4
27-Mar-21 Illinois Chicago 500 block of N Leamington Ave 0 4
27-Mar-21 Mississippi Yazoo City Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr and Shady Dr 0 6
27-Mar-21 Illinois River Grove Belmont Ave 1 3
26-Mar-21 Virginia Virginia Beach 2000 block of Atlantic Ave 0 9
26-Mar-21 Illinois Chicago 2515 W 79th St 1 7
26-Mar-21 Virginia Norfolk 100 block of W Balview Ave 0 4
26-Mar-21 Tennessee Memphis 500 block of Arrington Ave 3 2
26-Mar-21 Pennsylvania Philadelphia 1080 N Delaware Ave 0 7
23-Mar-21 Alabama Aliceville 1st Ave SW and 15th St 2 2
22-Mar-21 Colorado Boulder 3600 Table Mesa Dr 10 1
22-Mar-21 Michigan Detroit 13300 block of Davidson St 1 3
20-Mar-21 Texas Houston 10266 North Fwy 0 5
20-Mar-21 Texas Dallas 10333 Technology Blvd 1 7
20-Mar-21 Pennsylvania Philadelphia 4234 Germantown Ave 1 5
18-Mar-21 Oregon Gresham 750 E Powell Blvd 0 4
18-Mar-21 Louisiana New Orleans 2400 Annette St 0 4
17-Mar-21 California Stockton Oro Ave and E Main St 0 5
16-Mar-21 Georgia Acworth 6468 Hwy 92 8 1
16-Mar-21 Arizona Phoenix 6215 W Elm St 4 1
15-Mar-21 Indiana Indianapolis 2300 block of N Harding St 1 4
14-Mar-21 Florida Tampa 10101 US-92 0 4
14-Mar-21 Illinois Chicago 2600 block of E 77th St 0 4
14-Mar-21 Illinois Chicago 6798 block of S South Chicago Ave 2 13
13-Mar-21 New York Brooklyn 917 Flushing Ave 0 5
13-Mar-21 Florida Orlando 200 block of Ring Rd 1 3
13-Mar-21 Indiana Indianapolis 300 block of N Randolph St 4 1
13-Mar-21 Virginia Richmond 5100 block of Richmond Henrico Tpke 2 4
12-Mar-21 North Carolina Greensboro 100 block of Huffman St 1 3
12-Mar-21 Texas Austin 7408 Cameron Rd 0 4
11-Mar-21 New Mexico Ohkay Owingeh (Chamita) 89 Rio Arriba Co Rd 56 1 3
11-Mar-21 Pennsylvania Philadelphia 1400 block of N 76th St 1 3
10-Mar-21 Texas Houston 6300 Ranchester Dr 3 1
8-Mar-21 Florida Clearwater US-19 ALT and Drew St 1 3
7-Mar-21 Mississippi Edwards 607 Wallace Dr 0 4
6-Mar-21 California Yuba City Countryside Dr and Littlejohn Dr 2 3
6-Mar-21 North Carolina Fayetteville 200 block of Shads Ford Blvd 1 4
5-Mar-21 California Compton 600 block of N Long Beach Blvd 1 4
4-Mar-21 District of Columbia Washington 3900 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SW 0 5
3-Mar-21 Pennsylvania Erie 2105 Buffalo Rd 2 3
28-Feb-21 Ohio Cincinnati 3600 block of Idlewild Ave 3 3
28-Feb-21 Indiana East Chicago 1205 W Chicago Ave 0 4
28-Feb-21 Delaware Dover 21 S Little Creek Rd 0 4
28-Feb-21 South Carolina Mccormick 437 Talbert Rd 0 4
28-Feb-21 Louisiana Shreveport 4914 Mansfield Rd 0 5
28-Feb-21 Texas Houston 13484 Northwest Fwy 0 4
27-Feb-21 Mississippi Columbus 1200 block of 7th St S 0 4
27-Feb-21 Mississippi Pattison Pattison-Tillman Rd 2 3
26-Feb-21 Texas Houston 8708 Beechnut St 1 5
26-Feb-21 Louisiana Baton Rouge 4700 block of Paige St 0 4
26-Feb-21 California San Diego 841 S 45th St 1 3
21-Feb-21 Missouri Kennett 1615 1st St 1 4
21-Feb-21 North Carolina Teachey Thomas Smith Ln and Bay Rd 0 4
20-Feb-21 Pennsylvania Norristown (East Norriton) 2912 Swede Rd 1 4
20-Feb-21 Colorado Grand Junction 1000 block of Teller Ave 1 3
20-Feb-21 Illinois Springfield 1100 block of S Grand Ave W 1 4
20-Feb-21 Louisiana Metairie 6719 Airline Dr 3 2
18-Feb-21 Louisiana Baton Rouge 2047 N Foster Dr 1 3
17-Feb-21 Pennsylvania Philadelphia 5597 Old York Rd 0 8
16-Feb-21 Florida Saint Petersburg 2968 Emerson Ave S 3 1
13-Feb-21 California San Francisco 3rd St and Quesada Ave 0 6
13-Feb-21 Indiana Indianapolis 3800 block of N Sherman Dr 0 4
13-Feb-21 California Oakland 1000 block of Washington St 0 6
13-Feb-21 North Carolina Cary 101 Reed St 1 3
11-Feb-21 Georgia Columbus 2001 South Lumpkin Rd 1 4
10-Feb-21 Georgia Atlanta 62 Harwell Rd NW 0 4
9-Feb-21 Texas Houston 945 W Little York Rd 0 4
9-Feb-21 Minnesota Buffalo 755 Crossroads Campus Dr 1 4
6-Feb-21 Tennessee Murfreesboro Ewing Blvd and West St 1 4
6-Feb-21 Louisiana Thibodaux 1100 block of Tiger Dr 0 4
6-Feb-21 Illinois Bloomingdale 250 W Schick Rd 1 5
6-Feb-21 Washington Tacoma 3634 E McKinley Ave 1 3
5-Feb-21 Pennsylvania Mohnton 360 E Wyomissing Ave 1 3
5-Feb-21 Mississippi Benoit 1017 Lake Bolivar Rd 3 1
4-Feb-21 North Carolina High Point 2912 W English Rd 2 3
3-Feb-21 Tennessee Memphis 800 block of Olympic St 1 3
3-Feb-21 Colorado Oak Creek 200 block of Wild Hogg Dr 3 2
2-Feb-21 Florida Fort Lauderdale (Sunrise) 10100 Reflections Blvd W 3 3
2-Feb-21 Oklahoma Muskogee 903 Indiana St 6 1
1-Feb-21 New York Rochester 400 block of Lyell Avenue 1 3
31-Jan-21 Illinois Chicago W Congress Pkwy and S Independence Blvd 0 4
30-Jan-21 New York Albany 200 block of Central Ave 1 4
29-Jan-21 Pennsylvania Mc Kees Rocks (Mckees Rocks) 824 Island Ave 2 3
28-Jan-21 Michigan Flint 1900 block of Tebo St 1 4
27-Jan-21 California Santa Ana 1614 S Standard Ave 0 4
25-Jan-21 District of Columbia Washington 1406 Good Hope Rd SE 1 4
24-Jan-21 Indiana Indianapolis 3540 Adams St 5 1
24-Jan-21 Nevada Las Vegas W Wilson Ave and H St 0 5
22-Jan-21 Kentucky Covington 217 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd 0 5
21-Jan-21 California Oakland 107th Ave and Apricot St 1 3
18-Jan-21 Pennsylvania Tobyhanna 960 PA-196 0 4
17-Jan-21 Arizona Phoenix 2340 W Northern Ave 0 5
17-Jan-21 Arizona Phoenix 2236 E University Dr 1 6
16-Jan-21 Illinois Kankakee 600 block of N Evergreen Ave 0 5
15-Jan-21 Pennsylvania Philadelphia 5000 block of N 10th St 0 4
11-Jan-21 Florida Miami 2491 NE 58th St 0 4
9-Jan-21 Illinois Evanston 100 Asbury Ave 6 2
9-Jan-21 Texas Houston 5828 Martin Luther King Blvd 1 3
7-Jan-21 District of Columbia Washington 1300 block of Columbia Rd NW 0 5
6-Jan-21 Texas Livingston 201 Maple Ln 2 2
6-Jan-21 Virginia Manassas 10010 Ellis Rd 3 3
4-Jan-21 Louisiana New Orleans 1600 block of N Galvez St 0 4
4-Jan-21 Florida Tampa 1225 S 78th St 0 5
4-Jan-21 Florida Fort Lauderdale (Lauderhill) 1828 NW 38th Ave 0 7
3-Jan-21 Oregon Gresham NE 181st Ave and NE San Rafael St 0 4
3-Jan-21 Texas Houston 2900 Travis St 1 4
3-Jan-21 Florida Miami 3632 NW 25th Ave 0 6
3-Jan-21 Louisiana Shreveport 6900 block of Jewella Ave 2 3
3-Jan-21 California Santa Barbara 1200 block of Liberty St 2 2
3-Jan-21 Florida Miami 10525 NW 24th Ave 0 8
1-Jan-21 Arkansas Fort Smith 3211 Towson Ave 0 7
1-Jan-21 Texas Amarillo 2650 Dumas Dr 1 3
1-Jan-21 Iowa Sioux City 2637 S Walker St 1 4
1-Jan-21 Illinois Galesburg 1000 block of Monroe St 0 4
133 MASS SHOOTINGS, TOTALS KILLED AND INJURED: 161 524
Gun control, Mass killings, Mass shootings, President Joe Biden, Rep. Mike Thompson

Rep. Mike Thompson on long overdue need for gun control

Thompson lauds Biden’s steps against ‘ghost guns’ – Congressman hopes his background check bill is next

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, praised the president's announcement on gun safety measures. (Rich Freedman--Times-Herald)
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, praised the president’s announcement on gun safety measures. (Rich Freedman–Times-Herald)
Vallejo Times-Herald, by Richard Freedman, April 8, 2021

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson has long emphasized he’s a Second Amendment believer. He just doesn’t believe some weapons should be legal or purchased without extensive background checks.

So it wasn’t a surprise that the Democratic congressman from St. Helena was thrilled hearing President Biden’s announcement of a series of executive actions to curb what he called an “epidemic” of gun violence across the country at Thursday’s Rose Garden Ceremony.

“Today is a new day and I’m proud to have a president willing to do the tough work needed to help prevent gun violence and save lives,” Thompson said in a statement. “We need action on all fronts, from the President and the Congress, to help keep our communities safe. Gun violence takes thousands of lives each year and costs our country nearly $300 billion each year. It’s an epidemic and we must act to combat it.”

Calling gun violence “a public health crisis,” Biden announced six executive actions, adding that “nothing impinges on the Second Amendment.”

Biden is tightening regulations of buyers of “ghost guns” — homemade firearms that usually are assembled from parts and milled with a metal-cutting machine and often lack serial numbers used to trace them. It’s legal to build a gun in a home or a workshop and there is no federal requirement for a background check.

Another action — more heavily regulating arm braces used to make firing a pistol more accurate — directly relates to the March shooting in Boulder, Colo., where such a device used to kill 10 people.

“Today’s Executive Actions are an important piece of what is needed to get ahead of the curve,” Thompson said in the morning statement. “These actions will better regulate ghost guns which increasingly are being used in gun violence incidents and concealable rifles like the gun used in the Boulder mass shooting. These are actions I have led the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force in asking the president to take.”

The executive actions “are critical steps forward in our work to prevent gun violence. But they cannot be our last steps as more action is still needed. I remain firm in my work to ensure the Senate holds a vote on H.R. 8, my bipartisan bill to expand background checks and save lives. Our work must continue,” Thompson said.

Later Thursday afternoon in a brief phone interview, Thompson reiterated his support of Biden’s actions.

“I’ve been lobbying for this,” Thompson said before catching a flight back to the Bay Area. “I’ve been pushing this ever since the president was elected.”

The Rose Garden event “was very exciting,” Thompson said, attending the ceremony with “a handful of members of Congress, two senators, and I think four House members. There were a number of people who had gun violence prevention groups and a number of those who have lost their children, wives, husbands, loved ones to gun violence.”

Thompson was invited after the ceremony to the Oval Office, where he chatted briefly with Biden.

“I mentioned that the last time I had been to the White House was to have a meeting on gun violence with his (Biden’s) predecessor (Donald Trump), who made all kinds of promises of what he was going to do and how he was going to fix it. By the time I got to my office, the NRA called him and he already reversed his position.”

Thompson hinted that it was a relief working a president good on his word.

“This president not only knows this policy and knows what he is talking about, he’s heartfelt and committed,” Thompson said. “Every victim here (at the ceremony), this president sat down with.”

Biden “has worked with us to find solutions to gun violence,” Thompson said.

A pro-gun organization, The Second Amendment Foundation, sent a press release out Thursday morning, warning the Biden administration “that if it steps over its legal authority with any executive action or order regarding the constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms, legal action is a certainty.”

The threatening lawsuit didn’t surprise Thompson.

“That’s what they do,” he said. “There were cops there today who experience violence every day. They’re not for suing. The victims aren’t for suing. Members of Congress who have come forward with solutions weren’t for suing. I don’t think the American people are.”

Thompson said his background check bill headed to the Senate is supported by 90 percent of the public.

If and when it passes the Senate and is signed by the president, “I’m going to jump for joy,” Thompson said. “There should be background checks and not soon enough.”

#DoSomething, #ENOUGH, #NEVERAGAIN, #NOTONEMORE, Gun control, Gun violence, Mass killings, Mass shootings

How many dead? Database discrepancies…

By Roger Straw, August 6, 2019

Well, of course one death by the hand of a mass shooter is too many.

But the numbers are important, and how are we to know the facts when we read widely varying reports:

    1. “At least 60 people have died in the U.S. from mass shootings in 2019 alone”  – Vallejo Times-Herald on Aug. 6
    2. Prior to the El Paso shooting, “20 mass killings in the US in 2019 claimed 96 lives.”  – The Guardian on Aug 4
    3. “The Ohio mass shooting was the 293rd this year, accounting for 345 killed.”  – The Benicia Independent on Aug 4

Yes, one is too many, but what is the real story of America’s gun violence problem?  How to report with a sense of accuracy?  And how are readers to make sense of the wide discrepancies?

#1 – First, it is likely that the Aug 6 Vallejo Times-Herald headline (60 killed) is just an error.  I can find no other news article making that claim, and the headline is not referenced in the body of the two Associated Press news reports below the headline.

#2 – The Aug 4 Guardian article (96 killed) refers to “a database compiled by the Associated Press, Northeastern University and USA Today.”  The database only counts shootings where four or more people killed, not including the shooter.  Using this methodology, the shooting in Dayton was only “the 22nd mass killing in the US this year.  The first 20 mass killings in the US in 2019 claimed 96 lives.”

#3 – My own reporting here on the Benicia Independent relies on two very similar databases with shockingly higher numbers: MassShootingTracker.org and GunViolenceArchive.org.  Both of these track all shootings where 4 or more people are SHOT (not just those where 4 or more are killed).  The justification for this as stated by example on MassShootingTracker is convincing: “…in 2012 Travis Steed and others shot 18 people total. Miraculously, he only killed one. Under the incorrect definition used by the media and the FBI, that event would not be considered a mass shooting! Arguing that 18 people shot during one event is not a mass shooting is absurd.”  One difference between these two is that MassShootingTracker includes the death of the shooter, while GunViolenceArchive does not.  Thus, they give these numbers for 2019 as of today, Aug 6:

Database – Mass Shootings in 2019 Incidents Killed Wounded
MassShootingTracker.org 298 353 1162
GunViolenceArchive.org 253 275 1055

Only using the more detailed mass shootings data can we understand that in the 218 days of this year, the U.S. is experiencing more than one mass shooting every day.

This is a crisis.

Congress needs to act.  Now.