Data released on 31 December 2023 by the U.S. Gun Violence Archive website shows that there were 655 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2023 in which at least four people were killed or injured, making it the second-worst year for mass shootings in the nine years for which the website has data records, behind only the 690 in 2021. 42,889 people in the U.S. were killed in all types of gun-related incidents in 2023, an average of about 117.
The high rate of gun-related violence due to the proliferation of firearms is a persistent problem in American society. The U.S. population of about 330 million, civilian gun ownership of more than 400 million, an average of about 120 guns per 100 people. Some analyses have pointed out that the frequent occurrence of shooting cases in the United States is the result of multiple factors, while the United States gun control legislation has been repeatedly frustrated, resulting in gun violence governance is difficult to make a real breakthrough.
