When it comes to gun debates in the U.S., rifles, especially the much-maligned “assault rifles,” always seem to take the blame. But if we actually take a hard look at the numbers, the odds of a rifle being involved in a mass shooting are so low it’s laughable. The real culprit isn’t inanimate objects—it’s our broken culture and mental health crisis. Let’s break down the numbers and do the math ourselves.
Total Guns in the U.S.: The Big Picture
The United States is home to more guns than people—over 400 million firearms float around the country. That includes everything from handguns to rifles and shotguns.
- Firearms: 400 million+
- Population: 331 million (rough estimate)
That’s more than one gun for every man, woman, and child in America. But how many of these guns are rifles? Rifles make up around 25 million of the total firearms. So right off the bat, we see that rifles are just a fraction of the total number of guns in circulation—about 6% to be precise.
Mass Shootings: What Do the Numbers Say?
Now let’s talk about mass shootings. According to the FBI and Gun Violence Archive, a mass shooting is generally defined as an incident where four or more people are shot. In 2023, the U.S. saw over 600 mass shootings. Sounds terrifying, right? But when you think about it, that’s 600 shootings in a country with 400 million guns.
- 600+ mass shootings in a country of 400 million guns—that’s still only a tiny fraction of the total gun-related incidents. And most of them involve handguns.
Handguns vs. Rifles in Mass Shootings
Here’s where the media’s narrative really unravels. Of those 600 mass shootings, handguns are overwhelmingly the weapon of choice. In fact, rifles are used in only about 3-5% of mass shootings. So out of hundreds of incidents, the rifle—the media’s favorite scapegoat—is barely involved.
Then, when we take a closer look at gang-related killings, which account for a significant portion of mass shootings, we find that these are almost exclusively committed with handguns. No one is walking around the streets with an AR-15—they’re carrying concealed weapons like Glocks and revolvers.
Gang Violence: How Many Rifles Are Involved?
In gang violence, rifles are essentially non-existent. Gangs rely on cheap, concealable handguns. So when you hear about mass shootings, ask yourself: how many of these are gang-related, and how many actually involve rifles? The answer: less than 1% of gang-related shootings involve rifles.
The Real Problem: Mental Health and Culture
So why is violence so rampant? It’s not the guns, folks—it’s the mental health crisis and a rotting culture that glorifies violence and encourages nihilism. Every time we see another tragic shooting, the warning signs are always there: untreated mental illness, social isolation, and a complete breakdown of personal responsibility. The fact is, we’ve created a culture where broken people snap, and instead of focusing on that, the media tries to ban inanimate objects.
We live in a society where kids grow up watching violence on TV, on the internet, and in their communities. Mental health care is a joke—try getting real help without spending thousands of dollars or waiting months for a therapist. And then we act shocked when someone who clearly needed help explodes.
The Math: Rifles in Mass Shootings
Time for the final numbers. Of the 25 million rifles in circulation, we’ve established that about 3-5% of mass shootings involve rifles. That means, out of the 600+ mass shootings in 2023, roughly 30 incidents involved rifles. Now let’s do the math:
- 30 rifle-related mass shootings divided by 25 million rifles = 0.00012% of rifles are used in mass shootings each year.
That’s right—0.00012%.
Conclusion: Rifles Aren’t the Problem, Our Broken System Is
So, out of all the rifles out there, less than one-tenth of 1% are ever used in a mass shooting. Meanwhile, we’ve got a country that is crumbling under the weight of untreated mental illness, decaying culture, and rampant violence that has nothing to do with the tools people use. Instead of focusing on rifles, we should be talking about why we’ve allowed mental health to rot, and why we ignore the cultural decay that pushes people over the edge.
The real problem isn’t a rifle—it’s a society that refuses to confront its own failures.