Study Finds U.S. Mass Shootings Increased During Pandemic

(Undated) — The nation has seen an uptick in mass shootings across the U.S. during the COVID pandemic. That’s according to research published Thursday in the journal JAMA Open Network. The research team also found mass shootings doubled in July 2020 compared to a year earlier. Researchers focused on mass shootings that happened between April 2020 and July of this year, in which four or more people were killed or injured, not including the shooter. The team noted there were 88 such shootings in July 2020, 42 in July 2019 and 45 in July 2018. According to Gun Violence Archives, last year there were 611 mass shootings nationwide, compared with 417 a year earlier. This year there have been 498 mass shootings, with 34 reported in September so far.