Based on the simplest and most reliable measure we have – homicide statistics – the US has become increasingly violent in recent years. May the murders have increased abruptly at the beginning of the pandemic, but if The 20% reduction recorded in the first half of the year to 548 jurisdictions monitored by Real-Time Crime Index continues nationwidethen the 2025 will The lowest percentage of homicides in the last 65 years is recorded.

Medical developments are currently making victims of shooting much more likely to survive than 1960so comparisons in such a long time are partially misleading. However:

Americans today are much less likely to be murdered than a few decades ago, and this is good news.

And medical progress does not explain a possible 40% reduction in the last five years.

The concern after politically targeted attacks

I mention the above to give the context of Understanding concern that the US is sinking into a wave of violence after the murder of the conservative activist Charlie Kerk last week and the mass attack at a Colorado school the same day. In the overall picture, this is not the case. However, while most murders and attacks in the US are related to family or friendly circles, Mass or politically targeted attacks draw much more attention And they may have more ominous consequences.

The Violence Project of Hamline University It has a database with political assassinations and attempts to murder the US. According to analysis of Bloomberg Economicsthe five such attacks in the period 2021–2025 are a five -year record. However, by looking at the data annually, the last two years have been unusual evil without a clear pattern.

Databases for mass shooting and terrorism

There are many different databases for mass shots like that of Coloradoeach with a different definition. The Rockefeller Institute of Government It defines as such attacks with victims who were accidentally selected or for their symbolic value. Its base has been a significant increase in the last three decades, but a decline in the latest years.

Alex Novrastech of Cato Institute It maintains a database for terrorist killings and defines them as the use of violence by non -state actors for political, economic, religious or social purposes through bullying. This includes the murder of Kerk. However in long -term comparisons the numbers are overshadowed by its attacks September 11, 2001 and bombing in Oklahoma in 1995.

Removing these two events, it seems that the “basic level” of political violence today is higher than in the past.

Ideological categorizations and recent trends

The databases of Novrastech and Prosecution Project show that in the past three decades most terrorist attacks on USA came from Islamists or far -right perpetratorswith the left representing a small percentage.

For 2024–2025, the numbers change: 17 deaths are attributed to Islamists (almost all by a truck attack in New Orleans in New Year’s Eve), 7 to left and 3 to right perpetrators. The sample is small for definitive conclusions, but it shows that the conservatives who feel the target of the left are not completely out of reality. The most recent goals of attacks – President Donald Trump and Kerk – were national prominent personalities while the Democratic goals were less well known.

Political exploitation and real causes

Many Republicans They do not even know about recent attacks on democratic politicians, in part because Trump and his allies downgraded the events. Thus, the intense rhetoric after Kerk’s death appears in some cynical or even dark.

None of the recent acts seem to be linked to organized terrorism networks nor to coherent ideologies. Common elements are people with disturbed lives, financial difficulties or deep involvement in online communities.

The rage for Trump’s return to power and the situation in Gaza is today two main outbreaks of online radicalization. But as the journalist observes Derek Thompsonthe main guides of mass violence in the US seem to be the Social isolation and the “dark laws” of online interaction, which enhance negativity, extremism and hostility on the other side.

The overthrow of these “laws” seems impossible. And the expectation of substantial action by a president who came to power thanks to his ability to exploit them may be a delusion.