An active shooter at Florida State University on April 17 created chaos across the entire campus, resulting in two people killed and five injured. Despite the tragedy of this event, it stood out because the first four months of 2025 have seen the number of high-profile firearm events plummet.
The Gun Violence Archive defines as “mass murder” firearm shootings resulting in four or more people killed, excluding the shooter. “Mass shootings” are defined as firearm shootings with four or more people killed or injured, also excluding the shooter.
From Jan. 1 through April 30, 2025, just three mass murders occurred, resulting in a total of 12 people killed. There were also 92 mass shootings (including the 12 mass murders), resulting in a total of 92 people killed. To put these numbers into perspective, for all of 2024, there were 30 mass murders (killing 130) and 502 mass shootings (killing 509).
As a further point of comparison, during the first nine months of 2024, around 106 people were killed on average per day in traffic-related accidents.
If these mass murder and mass shooting trends continue, 2025 will go on record as the safest year in more than a decade with respect to high-profile firearm events.