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FBI misleads on mass killings

John Lott takes apart an FBI report claiming that the number of mass shootings is increasing. Among other things, he notes that the FBI data including shootings where no one was killed (which make up nearly a quarter of the incidents counted) and someones nobody injured. It includes cases where one person was killed (which hardly are mass slayings), which makes up another quarter of the cases counted. It also overlooks cases fitting its criteria early in the period, which including some that shouldn't be counted at the end. The FBI count begins with the year 2000, which had an exceptionally low number of events (and undercounts them -- showing zero when actually there were four). He replies with a count over the last four decades, which finds only a slight rise. (And we might note that the US population increased 43% over the period used by Lott, and 12% over the shorter period US by the FBI).

Hat tip to reader Alice Beard....