Secret Service releases study on mass shootings: It’s economics, misogyny, and conspiracy theories

The last two weeks have brought back the reminder that mass shootings in the United States continue unabated. In their wake, the Secret Service published a 60-page report on Wednesday that details the data they have about mass attacks, according to Walter Einenkel on Daily Kos. The study, conducted by the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center, examines 173 mass shooting incidents that occurred between 2016 and 2020. Each attack included in the report resulted in at least “three or more individuals injured or killed across public or semi-public spaces, including businesses, schools, and houses of worship.”

Dr. Lina Alathari, chief of the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, told CBS News that “there is no community that is immune from this. But we do see commonalities that will help us with prevention.” One of those commonalities: Guns. Nearly three-quarters of the attacks studied involved someone using a firearm, and it was the firearm that killed or maimed the victims of those events. Less than a quarter of those firearm attacks involved guns acquired illegally.

The study also reports that more than one-quarter of the attackers had “beliefs (including conspiratorial, topic-specific, and hate-focused belief systems).” During a press conference, Alatheri told reporters that those “conspiracy beliefs” included “that 9/11 and the moon landing never happened, that the U.N. was sending an armed force to come take away everyone’s guns.” 

Read the full story HERE.

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