EXTREMISMFirearms: Weapons of Choice for Domestic Extremists
Every year, extremists overwhelmingly use guns to carry out their deadly attacks. In any given year, more people are killed by extremists who use firearms than those who choose any other weapon. Over the past decade, shootings accounted for 75 percent of the deaths at the hands of extremists.
Every year, extremists overwhelmingly use guns to carry out their deadly attacks. In any given year, more people are killed by extremists who use firearms than those who choose any other weapon. In fact, over the past decade, shootings accounted for 75 percent of the deaths at the hands of extremists.
That trend continues in 2022. In May, a racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE) armed with an assault rifle and wearing body armor killed 10 people and wounded three more inside a Buffalo, New York, supermarket. In March, an alleged member of the Aryan Brotherhood shot a Pinal County Arizona, sheriff’s deputy responding to a trespassing call. In February, a far-right extremist in Oregon used a handgun to fire on a group of racial justice demonstrators, killing one person and wounding five others. In January, an Islamist extremist used a semi-automatic handgun to hold four people hostage for 10-hours at a Texas synagogue, and an anti-government extremist using a stolen semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine ambushed and killed two New York City police officers.
Analysis of Firearm Use by Extremists
The ADL Center on Extremism documented 187 incidents from 2012-2021 in which extremists used firearms to commit murder or violently engage with law enforcement. During these incidents, extremists killed 325 people and wounded 252.
To determine the most commonly used and deadliest firearm types, the assaults were grouped by incidents in which the extremist(s) used a handgun, a military-style assault weapon, a shotgun, a rifle or multiple weapons. In 32 of the incidents the type of weapon(s) used remains unknown. To determine the number of casualties by weapon type, we also calculated the number of people killed and wounded in each incident. The following COE analysis presents the data from the most lethal weapon type to the least.
Averaging 5.4 fatalities per incident, the deadliest incidents are those in which extremist(s) used multiple weapons — various combinations of handguns, military-style assault weapons, shotguns and rifles. In these 22 incidents, 119 people were killed and 122 were wounded (accounting for 42 percent of all casualties).
