Fact Check: Have There Been More Mass Shootings Than Days in 2023?

The killing of five people, including a 9-year-old boy, at a home in Texas last week has marked yet another tragic incident of gun violence to have claimed the lives of multiple victims this year.

Francisco Oropeza, 38, who allegedly shot five of his neighbors to death after being asked to stop firing off rounds in his yard, was apprehended on Tuesday after a manhunt following the incident.

It is, sadly, among many similar shootings this year, the frequency of which was put into illustrative detail on Twitter by Representative Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat, on the same day it happened.

The Claim

A tweet by Representative Dan Goldman, posted on April 28, 2023, viewed 30,000 times, said: "There have been more mass shootings in 2023 than there have been days. Kids aren't safe in schools, and parents worry every day."

The Facts

When Goldman posted the tweet, there had been 118 days in 2023. By some measures, his claim is correct.

For example, the Gun Violence Archive classifies a mass shooting as any incident in which a "minimum of four victims are shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident."

It would include incidents such as the shooting this week in midtown Atlanta that left one dead and several others injured.

Based on its definition, and using the statistics it provides, there have been 192 mass shootings in the U.S. this year (174 as of the date of Goldman's tweet).

However, the Gun Violence Archive's definition is not a universal term. Mother Jones, which also collates data on mass shootings, considers mass shootings as the deaths of three or more people, a definition it has used to document all such incidents since 1982.

By this count, there have been 36 mass shootings in 2023 (33 up to the date of Goldman's tweet).

Another common measurement is four or more deaths. This definition has been attributed to the FBI, although it's not clear just how strictly this term is considered or used by the bureau (the FBI has previously analyzed incidents codified by the federal terms "active shooters" and "mass killings," the threshold for the latter being three or more deaths).

When applied to 2023, it pushes the year's total figure even lower to 20 (or 17 up to Goldman's tweet).

So, Goldman's claim is correct by one measure but not by others. The debate about the definition, however, does not alter the meaning of Goldman's tweet.

Whether mass shootings are counted by the number of injuries or deaths, Goldman's message is a plea for legislative action to prevent death, injury or life-threatening danger caused by firearms.

The issue here is that in the absence of a uniform definition, claims can be made about the number of mass shootings, which although not completely incorrect, can cause confusion because the term has multiple usages.

That's why Goldman is not incorrect to claim that there have been more mass shootings than days in 2023. However, in the absence of one agreed-to term, there is a danger that his comments could be misconstrued to mean something else.

Newsweek has reached out to Goldman via email for comment.

The Ruling

Needs Context.

By some measures, Goldman's tweet is correct. However, there is not a universally (or domestically) agreed criteria for the term "mass-shooting," which leads to confusion on the topic every time such a tragedy occurs.

Goldman appears to have used a definition based on whether "a minimum of four victims are shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident." By this count, there have been far more mass shootings than days in 2023.

However, stricter definitions that are also regularly used, based on three/four deaths, do not support his conclusion. There is no legislated term and the multiple definitions regularly cause confusion.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team