It is the most consistent, chilling statistic in American criminology. When a notification pings on your phone about a public tragedy, you already subconsciously know the profile of the perpetrator. You aren't guessing. You’re looking at a pattern that has held firm for decades. Mass shootings by gender are not a "both sides" issue; they are almost exclusively a male phenomenon.
Why?
If we look at the numbers from The Violence Project—a nonpartisan, DOJ-funded research center—the gap is staggering. Out of nearly 200 mass shootings they’ve tracked since 1966, only a handful were committed by women. We’re talking about a percentage so small it barely registers on a pie chart. It's usually around 2% to 4%. That isn't a fluke. It is a fundamental truth of the American mass shooting epidemic.
The Raw Data on Mass Shootings by Gender
Men pull the trigger.
Specifically, cisgender men. According to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, about 96% of mass shooters are male. This isn't just a "boys will be boys" thing. It’s a deep, systemic reality of how violence is socialized, processed, and eventually externalized in the United States.
Let's get specific.
Think about the most high-profile cases. Las Vegas. Sandy Hook. Orlando. Pulse Nightclub. Buffalo. Uvalde. All men. In contrast, the list of female mass shooters is incredibly short and often involves very different contexts. You might remember the 2018 YouTube headquarters shooting committed by Nasim Najafi Aghdam. Or Tashfeen Malik, who carried out the San Bernardino attack alongside her husband. These are outliers. They are the exceptions that prove the rule.
When a woman commits a mass shooting, it's often a partnership or has a very specific, localized grievance. Men, however, seem more prone to the "random" public massacre designed for maximum notoriety.
Is It Biology or Just How We're Raised?
People love to argue about testosterone. They say it makes men more aggressive. Maybe. But if testosterone were the only factor, we’d see similar mass shooting rates in every country on Earth. We don't. This suggests that while gender is the primary predictor of who does it, the culture provides the "why" and the "how."
Dr. Jillian Peterson and Dr. James Densley, the founders of The Violence Project, found a common "pathway" to these crimes. It usually starts with early childhood trauma. Then comes a clear crisis point. Then, the radicalization. For men, this often manifests as "aggrieved entitlement." Basically, the feeling that the world owes them something—status, sex, respect—and has failed to deliver.
Violence becomes a way to "reclaim" that lost manhood.
The Profile of the Male Shooter
Most of these guys aren't "monsters" who appeared out of nowhere. Honestly, they’re often described as "loners" or "quiet," but that’s a lazy shorthand.
The data shows they are frequently suicidal.
In fact, a huge chunk of mass shootings by gender research highlights that these acts are often intended as a final, theatrical act of self-destruction. The shooter doesn't expect to walk away. For many men, reaching out for mental health support feels like a sign of weakness. They’ve been told since preschool to "man up." So, instead of seeking therapy, they seek a blaze of glory.
They want to be seen.
Women, statistically, tend to internalize their pain. They're more likely to engage in self-harm or eating disorders. Men externalize it. They turn the pain outward, toward the public. It's a gendered difference in how we handle psychological collapse.
Rare Cases: When Women Pull the Trigger
It’s worth looking at the 2015 San Bernardino attack. Tashfeen Malik is one of the very few women in this category. But notice the detail: she did it with her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook.
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This fits a sub-pattern.
When women are involved in extreme mass violence, it is frequently as part of a duo or a specific ideological cell. They are rarely the "lone wolf" actors who plan a massacre in a basement for six months in total isolation.
Then you have Brenda Spencer. Back in 1979, she shot up a school because she "didn't like Mondays." She’s one of the earliest examples of a female school shooter. But even with her case, the rarity is what made it a national obsession. If she had been a 16-year-old boy, it would have still been tragic, but it wouldn't have been a "statistical anomaly."
Misconceptions About the "Why"
Don't fall for the "video games" argument. It’s tired. It’s also factually weak.
Millions of women play violent video games. Millions of men in Japan and South Korea play them too. They don't have this problem. The intersection of mass shootings by gender is specifically an American intersection of firearm access, a lack of social safety nets, and a very specific brand of toxic masculinity that views violence as a valid form of communication.
We also need to talk about domestic violence.
A massive percentage of these shooters have a history of abusing women. It’s a huge red flag that gets ignored. If you look at the data from Everytown for Gun Safety, over half of all mass shootings involve a shooter who killed a family member or an intimate partner. Violence against women is often the "entry drug" for mass public violence.
The Age Factor
It isn't just gender. It's age + gender.
The most common age for a mass shooter has shifted lower over the years. We see a lot of guys in their late teens and early 20s. This is a volatile time for the male brain—specifically the prefrontal cortex, which handles impulse control. Mix that with a "lost" young man who finds an extremist community online, and you have a powder keg.
The internet has acted as an accelerant.
Young men who feel alienated find "manosphere" forums that tell them their problems are the fault of women, minorities, or "society." They find a script to follow. They see previous shooters being treated like anti-heroes. They want to join the club.
Moving Toward a Solution
So, what do we actually do with this information? Just acknowledging that men do it isn't enough. We have to look at the interventions that actually work.
First, we have to change the "script."
Media organizations have started to move away from showing the shooter’s name and face. This is huge. If the goal is "fame through infamy," we need to take that prize off the table. Organizations like "No Notoriety" have been pushing for this for years, and it’s slowly becoming a standard in newsrooms.
Second, we need "Red Flag" laws.
Since we know that domestic violence and threats of self-harm are the primary precursors, we need ways to temporarily remove firearms from men in crisis. These laws—formally known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs)—save lives. They give families a tool to intervene before the "crisis point" becomes a "shooting point."
Third, we have to talk to boys.
Literally.
We need social-emotional learning in schools that teaches boys it’s okay to feel "low" without needing to feel "dangerous." We have to break the link between masculinity and the capacity for violence.
Real-World Action Steps
If you want to move beyond the statistics and actually influence the trend of mass shootings by gender, there are tangible things to track and support:
- Support Threat Assessment Teams: Many schools and workplaces now use multi-disciplinary teams (mental health pros, law enforcement, and HR) to identify "leaking" behavior—when a person hints at a coming attack. This is more effective than "profile" hunting.
- Advocate for Domestic Violence Reporting: Support legislation that ensures domestic violence convictions and restraining orders are actually entered into the NICS background check system. Closing the "boyfriend loophole" is a direct strike against the mass shooting pipeline.
- Encourage "Secure Storage": A huge number of young male shooters use guns they took from their parents. Use biometric safes or cable locks. It sounds simple, but time and friction are the enemies of an impulsive, suicidal shooter.
- Change the Conversation on Mental Health: We have to normalize men seeking help. If the path to a shooting is a "pathway of despair," we need to build more off-ramps.
The data is clear. The pattern is set. But patterns can be broken once we stop being afraid to name the specific demographics and behaviors driving the crisis.