Income inequality and mass shootings in the United States

Roy Kwon,Joseph F Cabrera

doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7490-x

Abstract

BackgroundMass shootings are an increasingly common phenomenon in the United States. However, there is little research on whether the recent growth of income inequality is associated with this rise of mass shootings. We thus build on our prior research to explore the connection between income inequality and mass shootings across counties in the United States.MethodsWe assemble a panel dataset of 3144 counties during the years 1990 to 2015. Socioeconomic data are extracted from the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Mass shootings data are from three databases that compile its information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and media sources, respectively. These data are analyzed using random effects negative binomial regressions, while controlling for seven additional predictors of crime.ResultsCounties experiencing a one standard deviation growth of income inequality witnessed 0.43 more mass shootings when using the definition of three or more victim injuries (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.24, 1.66; P < .001) and 0.57 more mass shootings when using the designation of four or more victim deaths (IRR = 1.57; 95% CI = 1.26, 1.96; P < .001).ConclusionsCounties with growing levels of income inequality are more likely to experience mass shootings. We assert that one possibility for this finding is that income inequality fosters an environment of anger and resentment that ultimately leads to violence.

Highlights

Mass shootings are an increasingly common phenomenon in the United States
We do so by building on our prior research [18], where we find that differences between counties in their level of income inequality is linked to mass shootings
According to the data, during each time-period examined, counties experiencing a decrease of income inequality witnessed a mass shootings rate of 6 per 1000 counties, counties with a negligible change of income inequality experienced 30 per 1000, and counties with an increase of income inequality observed 35 per 1000

Summary

Introduction

Mass shootings are an increasingly common phenomenon in the United States. there is little research on whether the recent growth of income inequality is associated with this rise of mass shootings. From a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, to an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, it seems mass shootings are becoming a more common occurrence in the United States. This claim is supported by the data as the number of mass shootings involving three or more victim-related injuries increased from a total of 8 in the 1970s, to 115 in the current decade by the end of 2015 [1]. An important question remains unanswered in the empirical literature: is the contemporary growth of income

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Discussion

Conclusion