How many active shooter incidents occur in the US?
In 2025, the FBI identified 34 active shooter incidents, resulting in 166 casualties: 51 killed and 115 wounded.
In 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) designated 34 active shooter events, resulting in 166 casualties: 51 people killed and 115 wounded.
The FBI definition for an active shooter incident is: “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.”
There were 42% more active shooter incidents in 2025 compared with 2024.
Total active shooter incidents per year, 2000–2025
Between 2000 and 2025, the FBI recorded 562 active shooter incidents, with the highest number in 2021. That year, 61 incidents left 140 people wounded and 103 killed, totaling 234 victims.
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Although 2021 had the most incidents, 2017 saw the highest number of casualties, with 729 people wounded or killed.
Total casualties from active shooter incidents have increased 57% since 2024.
Total number of persons killed or wounded in active shooter incidents, 2000–2025
What is a mass shooting?
Stories about gun violence include terms such as “active shooter,” “mass shooting,” and “mass killing”. The terms can be easily confused because various organizations and government agencies define them differently.
Although the federal government lacks a widely accepted definition of “mass shooting,” the FBI classifies incidents with three or more fatalities as “mass killings,” a definition adopted by Congress after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
In the last five years, 23% of active shooter events met the definition of a mass killing, averaging 10 a year.
Over the last five years, 23% of active shooter incidents were classified as mass killings.
Total active shooter incidents, by classification, 2021–2025
What is considered a gun-related death in the US?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks firearm-related deaths — the number of people “dying from a firearm-related injury.” This includes all deaths involving guns, such as homicide, suicide, and accidents.
While there isn’t a single government database dedicated to collecting all firearm-related incidents, there are data on firearm-related deaths in the US collected and collated from public health databases, fatal injury reports, and cause of death reports.
As of November 2025, CDC data indicated that total firearm deaths were 4.9% lower than in the same month of 2024.
An estimated 4.9% fewer people died from gun-related injuries by November 2025 than by November 2024.
Cumulative firearms deaths
Since 1979, more people in the US die from suicide involving a firearm than homicides (including mass killings) or accidents.
In 2024, 62.1% all gun-related deaths were suicides.
Age-adjusted rate for gun-related deaths, by type, 1979–2024
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