The share of American households owning at least one firearm has remained relatively steady since 1972, hovering between ** percent and ** percent. In 2024, about ** percent of U.S. households had at least one gun in their possession. Additional information on firearms in the United States Firearms command a higher degree of cultural significance in the United States than any other country in the world. Since the inclusion of the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, firearms have held symbolic power beyond their already obvious material power. Despite many Americans being proud gun-owners, a large movement exists within the country in opposition to the freedom afforded to those in possession of these potentially deadly weapons. Those opposed to current gun regulation have sourced their anger from the large number of deaths due to firearms in the country, as well as the high frequency of gun violence apparent in comparison to other developed countries. Furthermore, the United States has fallen victim to a number of mass shootings in the last two decades, most of which have raised questions over the ease at which a person can obtain a firearm. Although this movement holds a significant position in the public political discourse of the United States, meaningful change regarding the legislation dictating the ownership of firearms has not occurred. Critics have pointed to the influence possessed by the National Rifle Association through their lobbying of public officials. The National Rifle Association also lobbies for the interests of firearm manufacturing in the United States, which has continued to rise since a fall in the early 2000s.

Texas was the state with the highest number of registered weapons in the United States in 2024, with 1,136,732 firearms. Rhode Island, on the other hand, had the least, with 4,895 registered firearms. Gun laws in the United States Gun ownership in the U.S. is protected by the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution, which allows citizens to own firearms and form a militia if necessary. Outside of the 2nd Amendment, gun laws in the U.S. vary from state to state, and gun owners are subject to the laws of the state they are currently in, not necessarily the state they live in. For example, if concealed carry is allowed in a gun owner’s state of residence but not in the state they are traveling in, the owner is subject to the law of the state they are traveling in. Civilian-owned firearms The United States is estimated to have the highest rate of civilian-owned firearms in the world, more than double that of Yemen, which has the second-highest gun ownership rate. Unfortunately, along with high gun ownership rates comes a higher number of homicides by firearm, which was about 13,529 homicides in 2023.

Context

The SIPRI Military Expenditure Database contains consistent time series on the military spending of countries for the period 1949–2017.

Content

What's inside is more than just rows and columns. Make it easy for others to get started by describing how you acquired the data and what time period it represents, too.

Acknowledgements

We wouldn't be here without the help of others. If you owe any attributions or thanks, include them here along with any citations of past research.

Inspiration

Are there hidden patterns behind the military expenditures?

This is the World Freedom index, By the State of World Liberty Project. It ranks various countries by various forms of freedom and created an index to see which countries had the most freedom. USA finished 8th, with Estonia in 1st place and North Korea having the least freedom. Source URL: http://www.stateofworldliberty.org/report/rankings.html This Dataset has a ranking for the countries, just to be clear, when you map out the rankings of countries, the highest ranked countries will not be the brightest on the map. Estonia is Ranked #1, but the value of 1 is lower than the value assigned to North Korea (158). so just be aware of that. In short, for mapping, use the Scores not the Ranks.

All the data for this dataset is provided from CARMA: Data from CARMA (www.carma.org) This dataset provides information about Power Plant emissions in China. Power Plant emissions from all power plants in China were obtained by CARMA for the past (2000 Annual Report), the present (2007 data), and the future. CARMA determine data presented for the future to reflect planned plant construction, expansion, and retirement. The dataset provides the name, company, parent company, city, state, metro area, lat/lon, and plant id for each individual power plant. Only Power Plants that had a listed longitude and latitude in CARMA's database were mapped. The dataset reports for the three time periods: Intensity: Pounds of CO2 emitted per megawatt-hour of electricity produced. Energy: Annual megawatt-hours of electricity produced. Carbon: Annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The units are short or U.S. tons. Multiply by 0.907 to get metric tons. Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) is a massive database containing information on the carbon emissions of over 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies worldwide. Power generation accounts for 40% of all carbon emissions in the United States and about one-quarter of global emissions. CARMA is the first global inventory of a major, sector of the economy. The objective of CARMA.org is to equip individuals with the information they need to forge a cleaner, low-carbon future. By providing complete information for both clean and dirty power producers, CARMA hopes to influence the opinions and decisions of consumers, investors, shareholders, managers, workers, activists, and policymakers. CARMA builds on experience with public information disclosure techniques that have proven successful in reducing traditional pollutants. Please see carma.org for more information http://carma.org/region/detail/47

Number and percentage of homicide victims, by type of firearm used to commit the homicide (total firearms; handgun; rifle or shotgun; fully automatic firearm; sawed-off rifle or shotgun; firearm-like weapons; other firearms, type unknown), Canada, 1974 to 2018.

This dataset contains nations' total business spending on fixed assets, such as factories, machinery, equipment, dwellings, and inventories of raw materials, which provide the basis for future production. It is measured gross of the depreciation of the assets, i.e., it includes investment that merely replaces worn-out or scrapped capital. The investment is shown as a percentage of each country's GDP. Source: CIA World Factbook, 2007: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/notesanddefs.html#2010 Accessed: 10.2.07

Schusswaffen in der Europäischen Union. Themen: Einschätzung des Ausmaßes an Straftaten mit Schusswaffenbeteiligung im eigenen Land sowie erwartete Entwicklung in den nächsten fünf Jahren; Präferenz für stärkere Regulierung von Besitz, Kauf und Verkauf von Schusswaffen oder für andere Wege, das Ausmaß an Straftaten mit Schusswaffenbeteiligung zu senken; Einstellung zu gemeinsamen gesetzlichen Mindeststandards zu Schusswaffen in der Europäischen Union; Einstellung zu gemeinsamen gesetzlichen Mindeststandards zu Schusswaffen in Bezug auf: die Arten von Schusswaffen, die für den privaten Gebrauch verkauft werden dürfen, die Kennzeichnung jeder Schusswaffe zur Identifizierung des Besitzers, die Genehmigungspflicht für den Besitz von Schusswaffen, den Verkauf von Schusswaffen über das Internet, das Strafmaß für den unerlaubten Handel mit Schusswaffen; Bekämpfung der illegalen Einfuhr von Schusswaffen aus dem Nicht-EU-Ausland in die EU am effektivsten durch die Europäische Union in Zusammenarbeit mit den nationalen Behörden oder durch die nationalen Behörden alleine; Einstellung zur Kooperation der EU mit benachbarten Nicht-EU-Ländern, um diese bei der Kontrolle von Schusswaffen zu unterstützen; eigener Schusswaffenbesitz; Gründe für eigenen Schusswaffenbesitz. Demographie: Alter; Geschlecht; Staatsangehörigkeit; Alter bei Beendigung der Ausbildung; Beruf; berufliche Stellung; Region; Urbanisierungsgrad; Besitz eines Mobiltelefons; Festnetztelefon im Haushalt; Anzahl der Personen ab 15 Jahren im Haushalt (Haushaltsgröße). Zusätzlich verkodet wurde: Interviewmodus (Mobiltelefon oder Festnetz); Nationengruppe; Gewichtungsfaktor. Firearms in the European Union. Topics: assessment of the level of crime using firearms in the own country and expected development over the next five years; preference of stricter regulation of who is allowed to own, buy or sell firearms in the own country or of other ways to reduce the level of crime using firearms; attitude towards common minimum standards of laws about firearms in the European Union; attitude towards common minimum standards in the European Union regarding: the types of firearms that can be sold for private use, marking each firearm to identify its owner, licensing the possession of firearms, selling firearms on the internet, the way how illegal trafficking in firearms is punished; fight against firearms trafficking to the EU from outside the EU is most effective by the EU in cooperation with the national authorities or by the national authorities acting on their own; attitude towards the cooperation of the EU with neighbouring non-EU countries to help them control firearms; own possession of a firearm; reasons for owning a firearm. Demography: age; sex; nationality; age at end of education; occupation; professional position; region; type of community; own a mobile phone and fixed (landline) phone; household composition and household size. Additionally coded was: type of phone line; nation group; weighting factor. Telephone interview: CATI Bevölkerung der jeweiligen Nationalitäten der Mitgliedsstaaten der EU, wohnhaft in den 28 Mitgliedsstaaten, im Alter von 15 Jahren und älter

THIS DATASET WAS LAST UPDATED AT 8:11 PM EASTERN ON SEPT. 30

OVERVIEW

2019 had the most mass killings since at least the 1970s, according to the Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killings Database.

In all, there were 45 mass killings, defined as when four or more people are killed excluding the perpetrator. Of those, 33 were mass shootings . This summer was especially violent, with three high-profile public mass shootings occurring in the span of just four weeks, leaving 38 killed and 66 injured.

A total of 229 people died in mass killings in 2019.

The AP's analysis found that more than 50% of the incidents were family annihilations, which is similar to prior years. Although they are far less common, the 9 public mass shootings during the year were the most deadly type of mass murder, resulting in 73 people's deaths, not including the assailants.

One-third of the offenders died at the scene of the killing or soon after, half from suicides.

About this Dataset

The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killings database tracks all U.S. homicides since 2006 involving four or more people killed (not including the offender) over a short period of time (24 hours) regardless of weapon, location, victim-offender relationship or motive. The database includes information on these and other characteristics concerning the incidents, offenders, and victims.

The AP/USA TODAY/Northeastern database represents the most complete tracking of mass murders by the above definition currently available. Other efforts, such as the Gun Violence Archive or Everytown for Gun Safety may include events that do not meet our criteria, but a review of these sites and others indicates that this database contains every event that matches the definition, including some not tracked by other organizations.

This data will be updated periodically and can be used as an ongoing resource to help cover these events.

Using this Dataset

To get basic counts of incidents of mass killings and mass shootings by year nationwide, use these queries:

Mass killings by year

Mass shootings by year

To get these counts just for your state:

Filter killings by state

Definition of "mass murder"

Mass murder is defined as the intentional killing of four or more victims by any means within a 24-hour period, excluding the deaths of unborn children and the offender(s). The standard of four or more dead was initially set by the FBI.

This definition does not exclude cases based on method (e.g., shootings only), type or motivation (e.g., public only), victim-offender relationship (e.g., strangers only), or number of locations (e.g., one). The time frame of 24 hours was chosen to eliminate conflation with spree killers, who kill multiple victims in quick succession in different locations or incidents, and to satisfy the traditional requirement of occurring in a “single incident.”

Offenders who commit mass murder during a spree (before or after committing additional homicides) are included in the database, and all victims within seven days of the mass murder are included in the victim count. Negligent homicides related to driving under the influence or accidental fires are excluded due to the lack of offender intent. Only incidents occurring within the 50 states and Washington D.C. are considered.

Methodology

Project researchers first identified potential incidents using the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR). Homicide incidents in the SHR were flagged as potential mass murder cases if four or more victims were reported on the same record, and the type of death was murder or non-negligent manslaughter.

Cases were subsequently verified utilizing media accounts, court documents, academic journal articles, books, and local law enforcement records obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Each data point was corroborated by multiple sources, which were compiled into a single document to assess the quality of information.

In case(s) of contradiction among sources, official law enforcement or court records were used, when available, followed by the most recent media or academic source.

Case information was subsequently compared with every other known mass murder database to ensure reliability and validity. Incidents listed in the SHR that could not be independently verified were excluded from the database.

Project researchers also conducted extensive searches for incidents not reported in the SHR during the time period, utilizing internet search engines, Lexis-Nexis, and Newspapers.com. Search terms include: [number] dead, [number] killed, [number] slain, [number] murdered, [number] homicide, mass murder, mass shooting, massacre, rampage, family killing, familicide, and arson murder. Offender, victim, and location names were also directly searched when available.

This project started at USA TODAY in 2012.

Contacts

Contact AP Data Editor Justin Myers with questions, suggestions or comments about this dataset at jmyers@ap.org. The Northeastern University researcher working with AP and USA TODAY is Professor James Alan Fox, who can be reached at j.fox@northeastern.edu or 617-416-4400.

This dataset displays the energy prices and expenditures for each of the 50 United States, plus the District of Columbia. Included in the dataset are figures on the prices on a scale with nominal dollars per million Btu. Expenditures in millions of nominal dollars. Expenditures per person in nominal dollars. Hawaii pays the highest in prices, with Texas paying the most in expenditures.

This data set illustrates the ranking of military size by countries across the globe. The value of -1 means that no data was available. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_size_of_armed_forces August 27, 2007

This dataset displays the total exports from the respective state for all merchandise. This data is available on a global scale, and in available for the range spanning 1999 - 2007. The figures are given in the dollar amount. Presented by the Office of Trade and Industry Information (OTII), Manufacturing and Services, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The State Export Data are available as full year totals for 1999 through 2007 and Year-To-Current-Quarter for 2007and 2008. "Year-To-Current-Quarter" is defined as January 1 through the last day of the most recent quarter in the system. ( March 31, June 30, September 30 or December 31 for the specified year). Year-To-Current-Quarter data are not available until First-Quarter 2008 data becomes available. Data are available for individual states or U.S. regions. You can tabulate these statistics using any of the NAICS classification systems (up to the three-digit level). State Export Data section offers four options: Global Patterns of a State's Exports, which displays (1) a world map showing export patterns from a state or U.S. region and (2) a table sortable by trade partner or by individual year data. State-by-State Exports to a Selected Market, which displays (1) a U.S. map showing states exporting a product to a world market and (2) a table sortable by exporting state or by individual year data. Export Product Profile to a Selected Market, which displays (1) a pie chart showing major exports from a state to a world market and (2) a table sortable by exported product or by individual year data.

Judgement on questions of security policy and international questions. Defense of the Federal Republic. Topics: Attitude to the Soviet Union and the USA; trust in the Soviet Union and the United States; feeling of community with the other countries of Western Europe and affiliation of the Soviet Union and USA in this community of nations; extent of connection of West German foreign policy with American; influence of the United States on domestic policy development in the Federal Republic; degree of personal freedom in the USA as well as in the Soviet Union; economic advantages as adequate substitute for small personal freedoms in the USSR; appropriateness of the criticism of western politicians of human right violations in the Soviet Union; arms control treaties only in concert with improvement in the human rights situation in the USSR; attitude to neutrality in the political dispute between the United States and the Soviet Union; probability of war in the next five years; trust in defense measures to protect the country; attitude to strong national defense and necessity of the military presence of the USA in Europe; personal defense readiness; the country with the greatest military threat to the Federal Republic; classification of the seriousness of a military threat on the part of the USSR; importance of strong national defense forces in connection with Gorbachev´s policies; the country with the greatest defense readiness for the Federal Republic; trust in defense preparedness of the USA; NATO or Warsaw Pact with an overweight of nuclear military forces; NATO overweight or equivalence with conventional military forces as guarantor of security in Western Europe; attitude to an increase in defense expenditures in the Federal Republic; assumed major reason for retention of Soviet military forces in Eastern Europe and American military forces in Western Europe; attitude to a reduction in military forces; most important reasons for strengthening conventional military forces of the NATO countries; attitude to NATO membership of the Federal Republic and most important reasons for as well as against NATO membership; trust in NATO; attitude to alternative alliances or remaining in NATO; attitude to common military maneuvers with France; necessity of nuclear weapons for deterrence; attitude to elimination of nuclear weapons and NATO; assumed remains of nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union after fulfillment of the INF treaty; attitude to nuclear defense through the NATO (scale); interest in politics; possession of telephone; self-classification on a left-right scale; visit to the United States; studying in the United States; party preference (Sunday question); behavior at the polls in the last Federal Parliament election. Also encoded was: administrative district and ZIP (postal) code. Beurteilung sicherheitspolitischer und internationaler Fragen. Verteidigung der Bundesrepublik. Themen: Einstellung zur Sowjetunion und zu den USA; Vertrauen in die Sowjetunion und in die Vereinigten Staaten; Gemeinschaftsgefühl mit den anderen Staaten Westeuropas und Zugehörigkeit der Sowjetunion und der USA zu dieser Staatengemeinschaft; Ausmaß der Verbindung der bundesrepublikanischen Außenpolitik mit der amerikanischen; Einfluß der Vereinigten Staaten auf die innenpolitische Entwicklung in der Bundesrepublik; Grad der persönlichen Freiheit in den USA sowie in der Sowjetunion; ökonomische Vorteile als ausreichender Ersatz für geringe persönliche Freiheiten in der UdSSR; Angemessenheit der Kritik westlicher Politiker an den Menschenrechtsverletzungen in der Sowjetunion; Rüstungskontrollverträge nur im Einklang mit Verbesserung der Menschenrechtssituation in der UdSSR; Einstellung zu einer Neutralität im politischen Disput zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und der Sowjetunion; Kriegswahrscheinlichkeit in den nächsten fünf Jahren; Vertrauen in die Verteidigungsmaßnahmen zum Schutz des Landes; Einstellung zu einer starken nationalen Verteidigung und Notwendigkeit der militärischen Anwesenheit der USA in Europa; eigene Verteidigungsbereitschaft; Land mit der größten militärischen Bedrohung für die Bundesrepublik; Einstufung der Ernsthaftigkeit einer militärischen Bedrohung von Seiten der UdSSR; Wichtigkeit starker nationaler Verteidigungskräfte in Zusammenhang mit Gorbatschows Politik; Land mit der größten Verteidigungsbereitschaft für die Bundesrepublik; Vertrauen in die Verteidigungsbereitschaft der USA; NATO oder Warschauer Pakt mit einem Übergewicht an nuklearen Streitkräften; NATO-Übergewicht oder Gleichstand bei den konventionellen Streitkräften als Garant für die Sicherheit in Westeuropa; Einstellung zu einer Erhöhung der Verteidigungsausgaben in der Bundesrepublik; vermuteter Hauptgrund für das Beibehalten sowjetischer Militärstreitkräfte in Osteuropa und amerikanischer Streitkräfte in Westeuropa; Einstellung zu einem Verringern der Streitkräfte; wichtigste Gründe für eine Verstärkung der konventionellen Streitkräfte der NATO-Staaten; Einstellung zur NATO-Mitgliedschaft der Bundesrepublik und wichtigste Gründe für sowie gegen eine NATO- -Mitgliedschaft; Vertrauen in die NATO; Einstellung zu alternativen Allianzen oder Verbleib in der NATO; Einstellung zu gemeinsamen Militärmanövern mit Frankreich; Notwendigkeit von Atomwaffen zur Abschreckung; Einstellung zur Abschaffung von Atomwaffen und NATO; vermutete Reste von Atomwaffen in der Sowjetunion nach Erfüllung des INF-Vertrags; Einstellung zur nuklearen Verteidigung durch die NATO (Skala); Politikinteresse; Telefonbesitz; Selbsteinstufung auf einer Links-Rechts-Skala; Besuch in den Vereinigten Staaten; Studieren in den Vereinigten Staaten; Parteipräferenz (Sonntagsfrage); Wahlverhalten bei der letzten Bundestagswahl. Demographie: Alter; Geschlecht; Familienstand; Familienzusammensetzung; Kinderzahl; Alter der Kinder; Konfession; Schulbildung; Beruf; Berufstätigkeit; Befragter ist Haushaltsvorstand; Charakteristika des Haushaltsvorstands; Ortsgröße; Bundesland. Zusätzlich verkodet wurde: Regierungsbezirk und Postleitzahl.

All the data for this dataset is provided from CARMA: Data from CARMA (www.carma.org) This dataset provides information about Power Plant emissions in Ukraine. Power Plant emissions from all power plants in Ukraine were obtained by CARMA for the past (2000 Annual Report), the present (2007 data), and the future. CARMA determine data presented for the future to reflect planned plant construction, expansion, and retirement. The dataset provides the name, company, parent company, city, state, zip, county, metro area, lat/lon, and plant id for each individual power plant. The dataset reports for the three time periods: Intensity: Pounds of CO2 emitted per megawatt-hour of electricity produced. Energy: Annual megawatt-hours of electricity produced. Carbon: Annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The units are short or U.S. tons. Multiply by 0.907 to get metric tons. Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) is a massive database containing information on the carbon emissions of over 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies worldwide. Power generation accounts for 40% of all carbon emissions in the United States and about one-quarter of global emissions. CARMA is the first global inventory of a major, sector of the economy. The objective of CARMA.org is to equip individuals with the information they need to forge a cleaner, low-carbon future. By providing complete information for both clean and dirty power producers, CARMA hopes to influence the opinions and decisions of consumers, investors, shareholders, managers, workers, activists, and policymakers. CARMA builds on experience with public information disclosure techniques that have proven successful in reducing traditional pollutants. Please see carma.org for more information

This dataset displays the number of television receivers by country for the time period covering 1990 through 1997. Covered throughout this dataset is 150+ countries, This dataset was gathered from the United Nations Statistics Division. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/databases.htm Access Date: October 31, 2007

All the data for this dataset is provided from CARMA: Data from CARMA (www.carma.org) This dataset provides information about Power Plant emissions and power plant types around the world by country. This information was obtained by CARMA for the past (2000 Annual Report), the present (2007 data), and the future. CARMA determine data presented for the future to reflect planned plant construction, expansion, and retirement. The location of the countries is placed by lat/lon coordinates that was provided by CARMA. The dataset provides the country, region type, plant count, and lat/lon for each individual country. The dataset reports for the three time periods: Intensity: Pounds of CO2 emitted per megawatt-hour of electricity produced. Energy: Annual megawatt-hours of electricity produced. Carbon: Annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The units are short or U.S. tons. Multiply by 0.907 to get metric tons. % Fossil: The percentage of total electricity that is generated by the combustion of coal, oil, or natural gas. % Hydro: The percentage of total electricity that is generated by hydroelectric power facilities. % Nuclear: The percentage of total electricity that is generated by nuclear power facilities. % Other Renewable: The percentage of total electricity that is generated by the use of wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, captured heat, or hydrogen energy. The objective of CARMA.org is to equip individuals with the information they need to forge a cleaner, low-carbon future. By providing complete information for both clean and dirty power producers, CARMA hopes to influence the opinions and decisions of consumers, investors, shareholders, managers, workers, activists, and policymakers. CARMA builds on experience with public information disclosure techniques that have proven successful in reducing traditional pollutants. Please see carma.org for more information

This dataset shows where media and press are most free to express their views and opinions. Countries rankings are based on laws, violence, and deaths of reporters and journalists. This is a Different measure of freedom than the world freedom index but just as important. This dataset shows the availability of dissenting views and opinions allowed within a Country. The USA was surprisingly ranked 44th, where freedom of speech is supposed to be one of out most prized rights. 1st place was a tie between northern European Countries (Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, and the Netherlands) Source URL: http://www.worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15333

This dataset displays the growth rate of imports of goods and services during each time period. Data is available from 2001 - 2007. This data are reported on a calendar-year basis. DPAD's estimates for 2006 and forecasts for 2007. Data Available: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/ Data Accessed: November 29, 2007

This dataset gives spending on defense programs for the most recent year available as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP); the GDP is calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). Source: CIA World Factbook 2007: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/notesanddefs.html#2010 Accessed: 10.2.07

This data set illustrates the number of active troops by active service, reserve force, paramilitary, total troops, and active troops per thousand people across the globe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_active_troops August 27, 2007