The Oct. 1 shooting in Las Vegas is merely the worst in a fusillade of killings that have claimed an average of 45 lives per month in the US this year. And that’s down from last year, when 50 people died in mass shootings each month, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker, which compiles data from public press accounts.
The injury rate in the latest massacre was far higher than usual. Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada fired multiple automatic weapons from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel at 22,000 concertgoers below. Eyewitnesses said Paddock fired gunshots for “10 to 15 minutes” as helpless spectators sought cover. Paddock killed about 60 people and injured at least 500, according to the latest counts.
Although the mass shooting—defined in this case as those that kill or injure at least four people—is the deadliest in modern US history, it is the 338th such shooting in America this year. Mass shootings are a public health tragedy that other countries have virtually eliminated, and the US has stood alone in not enacting new policies to prevent them. If history is any guide, more will soon die.
Here is a record of most of the recent shootings, and their causalities.