Despite his unconstitutional use of executive orders to push gun control, the number of Public Mass Shootings has significantly increased during his Barack Obama’s Presidency as the report below shows. Since President Barack Obama took office in January of 2009, he has taken every opportunity to politicize Public Mass Shootings. Often times he has used highly inflammatory rhetoric in order to advance new gun control legislation.
This report measures the number of Public Mass Shootings under Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Sources used: Mother Jones, LA Times and WikiPedia. The entire compiled spreadsheet can be viewed here.
CRITERIA USED TO MEASURE
The criteria that was used in the report to determine if the shooting was a Public Mass Shooting includes the following:
- The shooter killed or injured at least four people. The FBI identifies an individual as a mass murderer if he murders four or more people in a single incident (not including himself). We added those that sustained injuries from the shooting in the criteria so that if the shooting killed or injured at least 4 people it would count.
- The shootings occurred in a public place. (Except in cases where crowds of strangers had gathered on private property). Crimes primarily related to gang activity, armed robbery, or domestic violence in homes are not included.
RESULTS
Mass shootings have increased under Barack Obama by 240% from the number of mass shootings that occurred under his predecessor, George W. Bush.
NUMBER OF MASS SHOOTINGS BY PRESIDENT
The number of public mass shootings under President Obama is nearly the same number as the previous three President’s combined.
AVERAGE NUMBER OF MASS SHOOTINGS PER TERM
The average number of mass shootings for George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush was 7.83 mass shootings per term. Barack Obama shatters that number with 18 mass shootings per term
NUMBER OF MASS SHOOTINGS BY PARTY
Under these four Presidents there have been far more mass shootings under Democrat Presidents than there have been under Republican Presidents. Going back to 1989 when George H.W. Bush took office, 64.8% of mass shootings have taken place under a Democrat President.
