Twenty-two killed in El Paso, Texas.Nine killed in Dayton, Ohio.And hundreds others killed in smaller mass shootings that occurred with regularity throughout 2019.By the end of the year, the gruesome tally was in: the year saw the highest number of mass killings in America on record, with 211 lives lost in 41 incidents—most (33) involving firearms.That number comes from a database compiled by the Associated Press, USA Today, and Northeastern University that counts incidents in which four or more people are killed excluding the perpetrator.(The Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more are killed or injured, reported more than 400 killed.)Mass killings increased even as the homicide rate in the nation continues to decline.
The second-largest mass shooting of 2019 occurred on the last day of May, when a long-time city employee who had resigned just hours earlier opened fire inside his workplace—a municipal building in Virginia Beach.Carrying two semi-automatic handguns and extended ammunition magazines, the 40-year-old man killed 11 of his co-workers and a contractor who was at the city offices to get a permit.The shooting, which occurred on all three floors of the building, only stopped when police exchanged gunfire with the shooter, killing him.
Two of the largest mass shootings of the year occurred over one weekend in August. On Saturday, August 3, a 21-year-old man opened fire with an assault rifle at a crowded Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 and injuring two dozen others ranging in age from two months to 82 years old.Police said the man, who was charged with capital murder, wanted to shoot as many “Mexicans” as possible and had posted a hate-filled screed online just moments before the shooting.He pleaded not guilty at an October hearing, although his arrest warrant states that he told police “I’m the shooter” when he turned himself in.
Then, less than 15 hours later, nine people were killed and more than two dozen injured in Dayton, Ohio, when a man armed with an assault rifle opened fire in a downtown area.The entire shooting lasted just 32 seconds, ending when police shot and killed the 24-year-old man as he tried to enter a crowded bar to continue his rampage.
In the aftermath, President Donald Trump made formal remarks stating, “In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.”But he also called for changes to mental health laws, calling the shooters “mentally ill monsters.”He proposed the regulation of violent video games and an expansion of the death penalty.But he downplayed the role guns played, saying that “mental illness and hate pull the trigger, not the gun.”Experts quickly decried the connection to mental illness.In fact, people with serious mental illnesses commit just 3 percent of all violent crime, and they are far more likely than the general population to be its victims.
Even so, the Trump administration began considering a controversial proposal to study whether mass shootings could be prevented by using technology like smartphones and smartwatches to monitor people in order to predict violence.The idea alarmed critics, who cited civil liberty concerns and the risk of false positives, but the proposal appeared to be well-received by the White House.
There was little movement on addressing federal gun laws, however. Despite continued cries for the government to act—and efforts by Democratic lawmakers to impose more robust background checks and a ban on assault rifles—Congress again failed to make any changes to federal gun legislation in 2019.
But elsewhere in America, the shock of the August mass shootings propelled others to say enough is enough. A month after the shooting at its El Paso store, Walmart, which had already stopped selling handguns, decided to quit selling ammunition for handguns and military-style rifles.The company asked its customers to refrain from openly carrying guns in its stores and called on Congress to improve background checks and consider an assault rifle ban.Later in September, leaders of about 150 companies—including Airbnb, Condé Nast, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Lyft, Postmates, Twitter, Uber, and Yelp—signed a letter calling on the U.S. Senate to pass gun control legislation, saying it is “unacceptable” to do nothing.And a string of retailers joined Walmart in asking that customers stop openly carrying firearms in their stores.
As the list of mass shootings in America grew longer, people were increasingly worried about themselves or a family member becoming a victim. In a Gallup Poll taken in the wake of the two August shootings, 48 percent of U.S. adults answered that they were very or somewhat worried about this, compared with 39 percent in 2017 and 38 percent in 2015.