It feels like every time you turn on the news, there's another notification about a tragedy. But honestly, if you look at the hard data for the number of mass shootings in 2025, the picture is a bit more complicated than just "it's getting worse."
By the end of December, the United States recorded 408 mass shootings.
That's still a massive number. It means more than one incident occurred every single day. However, it’s actually a notable drop from 2024, when we saw 504 incidents. If you compare it to the absolute peak in 2021, we are looking at a 41% decrease.
But figures alone don't tell the whole story.
What the number of mass shootings in 2025 actually means
When we talk about a "mass shooting," different groups use different yardsticks. The Gun Violence Archive (GVA), which provided that 408 figure, defines it as any incident where four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.
Some people think these are all "active shooter" situations in malls or schools. They aren't. In reality, a huge chunk of that total comes from domestic disputes, street beefs, or "celebratory gunfire" that went sideways. For example, on New Year’s Day 2025, ten people were injured outside a nightclub in Queens. Later that same year, in December, five people were shot outside a bar in Fort Lauderdale.
These aren't the high-profile "rampage" attacks we see on rolling news, but they count toward the total because people—real people—were hurt.
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The "Mass Killing" Distinction
There is a subset of this data that experts like James Alan Fox at Northeastern University track. These are mass killings, defined as four or more people killed in a 24-hour period.
In 2025, mass killings hit a 20-year low.
Only 17 of these horrific events happened last year. That’s the lowest since 2006. While it’s tempting to celebrate, criminologists warn that this might just be a "regression to the mean." Basically, 2019 and 2021 were so exceptionally violent that 2025 just looks like a return to the historical average.
Where things got heavy in 2025
While the overall number was down, specific tragedies still shook the country. One of the most significant was the Brown University shooting in Providence on December 13. A former student opened fire in the engineering school during final exams. Two students died, and nine others were injured.
It was a chaotic, terrifying day that ended in a multi-state manhunt.
Then there was the attack in Minneapolis in August. It happened at Annunciation Catholic School during a morning mass. Up to 29 people were injured and two children were killed. The shooter was a former student, apparently motivated by a dark obsession with past massacres.
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Schools and Colleges
Omnilert’s 2025 research found that while school shootings were technically down, there were still roughly 233 incidents at K-12 schools.
- Texas: 21 incidents
- California: 22 incidents
- Tennessee: 14 incidents
These weren't all mass shootings, but they involved a gun being fired or brought to campus. It's a reminder that even when the national "big number" goes down, the localized trauma stays high.
The weird disconnect between data and feelings
You've probably noticed that even though the number of mass shootings in 2025 dropped, it doesn't feel safer.
Part of that is the nature of social media. Every single event is livestreamed, tweeted, and analyzed in real-time. Also, while homicides and mass shootings fell, firearm suicides actually went up. The CDC and GVA reported over 24,000 suicides by gun in 2025.
That’s a record high.
So, while the "public" violence of mass shootings is dipping, the "private" violence of self-harm is getting worse. It’s a bit of a shell game with the statistics. If you only look at the H2 headings in a news report, you might miss the fact that over 110 people a day are still dying from gun-related injuries in America.
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Why did the numbers drop?
No one has a perfect answer. Some experts point to better "threat assessment" programs in schools. Twenty-two states now mandate these programs. The idea is to catch the "red flags" before a student brings a gun to class.
Others think it’s just luck.
Gun sales also dipped in 2025, with about 14.7 million sold—the lowest since 2019. It’s possible that the "fever" of the post-pandemic years is finally breaking.
Actionable steps for staying informed
Don't just take a single headline at face value. Here is how you can actually track this stuff without getting overwhelmed by the noise:
- Check the Definition: When you see a "mass shooting" stat, ask if they mean 4 people shot (GVA) or 4 people killed (FBI/Northeastern). It changes the number by hundreds.
- Look at State Data: Violence isn't evenly spread. Forty-one states saw declines in 2025, but eight states actually saw an increase. Your local context matters more than the national average.
- Follow the "The Trace": They are a non-profit newsroom that focuses specifically on gun violence data. They’re great for getting the nuance that big cable news misses.
- Support Threat Assessment: If you're a parent, find out if your school district uses a formal threat assessment team. These are often more effective than just "hardening" a building with more locks.
The number of mass shootings in 2025 tells us that progress is possible, but it’s fragile. We’re moving in the right direction, yet the baseline is still far higher than almost any other developed nation.