Boston Globe, December 2025
Gun violence is a disproportionately American problem. The US has the highest rate of firearm-related deaths of any wealthy nation. Mass shootings, like the one that killed two Brown students and injured nine more on Saturday, sometimes happen in other countries; over the weekend, gunmen killed 15 people on an Australian beach. But they’re far more common here.
The scope and horror of American gun violence can create the impression of an intractable problem. But that impression runs counter to the data, according to James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University. In a hopeful sign that progress is possible, the number of mass shootings in the US — and the number of people they’ve killed — has fallen precipitously in recent years, he says.
