Here we present to you some of the countries with the most mass shootings in the world.
But first, what is considered to be a mass shooting? Obviously, it involves the death of multiple victims, and the criterion is relative. FBI, for example, defines a mass shooting as a single incident in which at least four persons were killed.
Some mass shootings are so brutal in the number of victims and the place where they occurred, like some of the mass shootings in Europe, for example, the 2015 Paris shootings or Norway mass shooting by Anders Breivik in 2011. And you can check the 15 Biggest Mass Shootings in the World to see more examples of these. But we are here to see some mass shooting statistics in general.
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Of the most brutal are probably school shootings, on the list of school shootings by country, the US surely comes to the first place. Also, the US being at the top of world’s mass shooting by percentage (33%) compared to the population percentage it covers (5%), there is a variety of shocking stories, some of them listed on 13 Largest Deadliest Mass Shootings in US History.
Our research was focused on more recent studies that focused on countries with the most mass shootings in the world rather than shootings per capita by country. That is why we have followed the data provided by the Public health watch and on the basis of OECD data in order to obtain mass shooting statistics by country. It is based on all mass shootings that occurred between 1983 and 2013 and shown on the mass shootings by country graph. Therefore, we have presented on our list the percentage of mass shootings for this 30-year period, rather than a one-year comparison for example.
Let’s go through the gloomy list of the countries with the most mass shootings in the world:
8. Switzerland
1.68% of mass shootings
Switzerland is among the top countries with the most mass shootings, but as we have noted in the period from 1983-2013. The last mass shooting in Switzerland occurred in 2001, although it is among the top countries in the world with guns per capita.
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8. Sweden
1.68% of mass shootings
Aren’t Scandinavian countries among the top happiest in the world? Well, obviously they have a high gun violence as well. Only in 2017, there were 306 gun shootings in this country, and a study of the period between 1960 and 1995 showed that the mass shootings in Sweden have increased rapidly as well.
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8. Finland
1.68% of mass shootings
Although suicides are something that puts Finland on a higher place in the gun deaths, mass shootings should also be neglected, and that is why it is among the countries with the most mass shootings in the world, even with 4 to 6 potential mass shooting being prevented each year by police.
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6. New Zealand
2.52% of mass shootings
The nineties were probably the worst years for New Zealand concerning the mass shootings, having the worst of them, the Aramoana incident among the worst. Although mass shootings are not part of everyday life in this country, neither are the strict gun laws – firearms control focuses on licensing rather than on limiting the use of firearms.
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6. UK
2.52% of mass shootings
After the school mass shooting in Dunblane Primary School in 1996 handguns were banned in the UK, which made this the last mass school shooting. Nevertheless, this ban had not completely stopped shootings in Great Britain, as you can read some of the mass shooting stories, which puts it among the countries with the most mass shootings in the world.
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4. Australia
3.36% of mass shootings
Luckily (well, considering the subject we have here), the most deaths by guns in Australia are suicides, and the most mass shootings that occur are within the family (committed by the father usually). Though after 1996, when Australia’s worst mass shooting occurred (involving 35 dead), gun control law was brought out which dropped the rate of mass shootings in Australia by 42% during the next seven years.
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4. Canada
3.36% of mass shootings
Does this statistic break the cliché of Canadians being the politest and kindest people? Well, nobody’s perfect, and there’s a list of some of the deadliest mass shootings in Canada that can prove that. Check it out on HuffPost.
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3. France
5.04% of mass shootings
Although out of the time span of our research statistics (1983-2013), there were 4 mass murders in 2015 only in France.
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2. Germany
5.88% of mass shootings
Germany has banned automated and semi-automated firearms in 2008 and has now become one of the strictest countries concerning the law for firearms. And because of the good reason, for being among the top countries with the most mass shootings in the world. Since this law was brought upon, the rate of mass murders in Germany fell off rapidly.
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1. USA
65.55% of mass shootings
Looking at the percentage (taken by any period, not only the one we put in our research) or the number of victims, the USA surely always topped the deadly race of countries with the most mass shootings in the world. Only in 2017, there have been 347 mass shootings in the country which is the highest ever recorded (and 217 in 2018 only by August)! And it also seems that mass shootings have become a daily problem in the USA, there have been 355 mass shootings in 336 days in 2015. The USA surely has a big gun violence problem here, which is also what 50% of the Americans think. It doesn’t come as a surprise this country is among countries with the highest number of gun deaths per capita.
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