• A new study reveals that 1 in 15 U.S. adults, or about 7%, have been on the scene of a mass shooting. Two percent, meanwhile, have been injured during a mass shooting.
• Younger generations, men, and Black Americans have disproportionately witnessed a mass shooting in their lifetime.
• The Gun Violence Archive documented 4,917 mass shootings between 2015 and 2024, and an additional 47 in 2025, to date.

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A new study reveals that one in 15 U.S. adults, or about 7%, have been on the scene of a mass shooting. Two percent, meanwhile, have been injured during a mass shooting –– whether through being shot, trampled in the ensuing chaos, or experiencing related injuries.

A group of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder published their findings Friday, March 7, in JAMA Network Open. The team, led by David Pyrooz, a professor of sociology and a criminologist at the Institute for Behavioral Science at CU Boulder, surveyed 10,000 U.S. adults in January 2024 –– a month that tends to experience lower rates of mass shootings.

The ‘Mass Shooting Generation’

According to the study, younger generations, men, and Black people have disproportionately been on the scene of a mass shooting, which is defined as an incident where four or more people are shot with a firearm.

The numbers led researchers to identify a “mass shooting generation,” largely comprised of adults born after 1996.

“Our findings lend credence to the idea of a ‘mass shooting generation.’ People who grew up in the aftermath of Columbine have these unique experiences that are really distinguishable from the older population,” Pyrooz told phys.org.

Analyzing the numbers

Pyrooz said that while the numbers seem high, and he is not surprised by them, it’s important to remember how many people can be “physically present” at a single mass shooting event. He points to a 2017 shooting at a Las Vegas music festival, which hosted some 22,000 people, or roughly one out of every 11,000 Americans.

“Physically present,” as defined by the researchers, includes anyone “in the immediate vicinity of where the shooting occurred at the time it occurred, such that bullets were fired in your direction, you could see the shooter, or you could hear the gunfire.”

While an event such as a Las Vegas music festival will attract people from around the country, 75% of respondents said the mass shooting they experienced was in their local community, including bars or restaurants, schools, shopping centers and synagogues.

Mass shootings since 2015

The Gun Violence Archive documented 4,917 mass shootings –– also defined as a shooting involving four or more people –– between 2015 and 2024. To date, there have been 47 mass shootings in 2025.

In their paper, the authors write that their findings “underscore the extensive and often overlooked regular exposure to mass shootings in US society, which calls for targeted interventions designed to reduce violence.”

What comes next?

According to phys.org, while Pyrooz’s survey does not look at how mass shootings affect a survivor’s mental health, his team is currently working on a paper that will.

Nevertheless, Pyrooz said that experiencing a mass shooting is no longer a question of “if one will happen in your community…but when.”

“This study confirms that mass shootings are not isolated tragedies, but rather a reality that reaches a substantial portion of the population, with profound physical and psychological consequences,” Pyrooz said.