Report finds that 7% of Americans have been present at the scene of a mass shooting and 2% have been injured in one

Summary

A new study from the University of Colorado Boulder finds that 7% of U.S. adults have witnessed a mass shooting, and over 2% have been injured in one.

Researchers define mass shootings as incidents where four or more people are shot in public spaces. With nearly 5,000 such events since 2014, experts stress the need for public health strategies to address the psychological and physical impacts.

The study highlights how mass shootings are not isolated events but a widespread issue affecting millions of Americans.

  • Snot FlickermanEnglish
    7·
    1 day ago

    Respondents were asked: “Have you personally ever been physically present on the scene of a mass shooting in your lifetime?”

    Unfortunately, it’s a self-reported study. While there is a lot of math used in self-reporting to account for people who lie or misunderstand the question, the results likely aren’t reproducible.

    Self-reported studies can be helpful in some ways but they have deep limitations on accuracy as opposed to “feels.”

    Arguably, without mass surveillance and access to data from mass surveillance, there really isn’t another good way to find out who was in physical proximity to a mass shooting other than self-reporting.

    • SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz
      5·
      1 day ago

      The question seems open to interpretation (which is bad for surveys like this).

      If I visit a location that was the site of a mass shooting a few years later, have I been “physically present on the scene of a mass shooting”?

      I think you could reasonably answer yes: you’ve been to the physical place where it happened, even if not at the time it happened.

      • Snot FlickermanEnglish
        3·
        1 day ago

        The university team defined “mass shooting” as a gun-related crime in which four or more people were shot in a public space.

        The University of Colorado researchers defined “physically present” as “in the immediate vicinity of where the shooting occurred at the time it occurred, such that bullets were fired in your direction, you could see the shooter, or you could hear the gunfire”.

        I’m sure somewhere in the questionnaire the definitions of mass shooting and physically present were presented to respondents, but once again, lying or misunderstanding the question is definitely a possibility.