Quote of the Day
Mass shooters in the U.S. range in age from 11 to 72. Twenty-year-olds committed more mass shootings and injured more people than any other age group from 1966 to 2024.
Twenty-eight-year-olds committed more mass shootings than any other age group, but the deadliest mass shooting in history was committed by a 64-year-old man. Therefore, there is no apparent direct link between the number of victims and the perpetrator’s age.
Cassandra McBride
March 6, 2026
Average Age of Mass Shooters in the U.S. (Updated 2026)
Note that in the first sentence “Twenty-year-olds” refers to people in their twenties, not just people who are 20 years old.
There is more to the story at the link if you are interested. But the bottom line for my intended use is that prohibiting people between 18 and 20 (inclusive) years old from purchasing a gun is not justified from a practical standpoint of reducing mass shootings even if such a ban could pass constitutional or philosophical barriers.
I think the “… but the deadliest … 64 year old” is a red herring specifically designed to try to hide the fact that 20-ish people are the problem.
Like all violent crime, mass-shootings are primarily a young man’s game. For only the most obvious reason, someone with those kinds of problems is unlikely to function well in the long term and MAKE IT to older age.
But at the same time, the worst mass-killing AND by far the worst school mass killing (with bombs in the… what, 1920s or something?) were both committed by older people. When they put their mind to it, they are much more successful.
Not sure what that says, but it’s both interesting AND suggests that there is more than one dynamic at play being lumped together by similar symptoms (lots of murdered people at once).