51% of Mass Shooters in 2019 Were Black: Only 29% Were White

Mass shooters have no particular ideology. Crusius and Betts were opposites ideologically. (Though both cared deeply about the environment.) Nor are mass shooters a white problem or a black problem. Over the same bloody weekend, William Patrick Williams, who is African-American, appeared in court after being arrested by the FBI for planning to shoot up a Texas hotel with an AK-47 rifle.

51% of mass shooters in 2019 were black, 29% were white, and 11% were Latino.

Three mass shooters were Asian, two were American Indian and one was Arab.

White people make up 61% of the country’s population, followed by Hispanics at 17.8%, and African-Americans at 12.7%. In that context, white people are actually dramatically underrepresented among mass shooters, as are Latinos, while African-Americans are highly over represented. But that may be because Latino gangs, like MS-13, are less likely to use handguns in public shootouts. And white organized crime groups, like the mafia, no longer carry out attacks like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

Much of this country’s gun violence is really gang violence. And shooting your enemies is a tactic. White organized crime groups make their victims disappear. MS-13’s victims are beheaded and buried in parks. Black gang members open fire on each in major cities. The perpetrators are sometimes never caught. When we distill the problem of mass shootings to its statistical roots, it becomes a gang tactic.