Fact Check: Do gun laws stop mass shootings?
False
In July 2022, Representative Boebert posted a tweet that implied that stricter gun regulation doesn’t stop mass shootings, citing a recent mass shooting in Denmark (a country with strict gun laws) as evidence, which ignores the massive disparity in rates of gun violence between Denmark and the US.
A 22-year-old suspect armed with a large rifle was arrested shortly after six people were shot and three killed on July 3, 2022 at a busy shopping center in Copenhagen, Denmark. Shortly afterwards, U.S. Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert tweeted that “it’s time to admit that gun laws DO NOT stop mass shootings,” citing Denmark’s mass shooting as evidence since the country has stricter gun laws.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, the U.S. has had 479 mass shootings so far in 2022, in sharp contrast to Denmark’s two mass shootings over the past seven years. Denmark does have more restrictive gun laws than the U.S. - individuals must demonstrate a valid reason to possess a firearm (hunting, collection), obtain a permit, clear a criminal and mental background check, and have the aqcuisition, possession, and transfer of each firearm be registered.
The total number of annual gun deaths in the U.S. has consistently exceeded the number of annual gun deaths in Denmark by a factor of at least 600, even though the population of the U.S. is only 56 times larger than Denmark. Denmark’s annual rate of gun deaths per 100,000 people is 0.95 while the U.S. rate is at 5.9; the most recent statistics show that the U.S. had 39,682 gun deaths in 2019 while Denmark had 64 in 2018.
Denmark has had significantly lower rates of mass shootings and gun violence overall than the U.S. when comparing within an appropriate time frame. There is a heavy correlation to the regulatory gun safety measures curbing rates of gun violence in Denmark. The claim that gun laws do not stop mass shootings from occurring, as evidenced by Denmark's recent shootings, is FALSE.
References and Further Reading:
News AU. Three killed in Copenhagen mall shooting, 22-year-old suspect arrested. 4 July 2022.
Gun Violence Archive. Gun Violence Archive 2022, Evidence Based Research since 2013. 12 September 2022.
Alpers, Philip, Miles Lovell and Michael Picard. Gun Policy.org. Denmark — Gun Facts, Figures and the Law. 12 September 2022.
Grinshteyn, Erin, and David Hemenway. Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-Income OECD Countries, 2010. 1 March 2016.
