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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released a study of 160 active shooter incidents that occurred between 2000 and 2013 throughout the U.S. Among other major findings: such incidents, in the past seven years, are occurring at more than twice the rate they occurred in the seven years prior.
The FBI began the study in early 2014. With assistance from Texas State University’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, it researched possible active shooter incidents in the U.S. during the selected time frame using official police records, after action reports, and shooting commission documents as well as FBI resources and open source information. One hundred sixty events were identified that fit its criteria — individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in populated areas (excluding shootings related to gang or drug violence).
A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013 contains a full list of the 160 incidents used in the study, including those that occurred at Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary School, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Fort Hood, the Aurora (CO) Cinemark Century 16 movie theater, the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, and the Washington Navy Yard, as well as numerous other tragic shootings.
The first seven years of the study show an average of 6.4 incidents annually, while the last seven years show 16.4 incidents annually. These incidents resulted in a total of 1,043 casualties (486 killed, 557 wounded — excluding the shooters). The study also found that all but six of the 160 incidents involved male shooters (and only two involved more than one shooter) and more than half of the incidents — 90 shootings — ended on the shooter’s initiative (i.e., suicide, fleeing), while 21 incidents ended after unarmed citizens successfully restrained the shooter.
Because so many of these incidents unfold so rapidly, Special Agent Katherine Schweit — who heads the FBI’s Active Shooter Initiative — says she hopes the study “demonstrates the need not only for enhanced preparation on the part of law enforcement and other first responders, but also for civilians to be engaged in discussions and training on decisions they’d have to make in an active shooter situation.” MOREHERE
Creation of fear, paranoia and sense of helplessness makes for more pliant populace