Police are twice as deadly as mass shooters, and steal more than burglars.

Police are statistically responsible for more death and theft than some criminals. But we let them do it, in the name of liberty & freedom.

There have been a lot of uniquely awful mass shooting tragedies in the news lately; the shocking uniqueness makes them newsworthy, because it’s new, or at least, out-of-the-ordinary. But it’s easy to confuse the frequency of these heartbreaking reports with the actual rate of mass shootings in which four or more people are shot. They didn’t “start up again” once COVID-19 vaccines became available — they were happening all throughout 2020, too, at even higher rates than before. They were just overshadowed by other news that was deemed more new and newsworthy.

Believe it or not, mass shootings account for just 1% of all gun deaths in America. The ones we hear about tend to take place in public settings, where some disgruntled person (usually a man) takes their anger out on strangers (often, though not always, in ways that reflect and resonate with larger issues around racism, misogyny, homophobia, etc). More often, however, mass shootings occur inside of homes, and/or between people who already knew each other. But their stories don’t get much press beyond the local…