Tallahassee, Florida, Nov. 2, 2018

Living in the United States gives you way too many chances to develop theories about what drives mass shooters. In recent years it’s seemed notable how many mass shooters had histories of domestic violence, for instance. A new Mother Jones analysis of 22 public mass shootings confirms that—but it’s not just domestic violence—it’s a more general hatred of women.

The 22 mass shooters in the analysis killed 175 people between them, and injured another 158. And yes, 86% of them had histories of domestic abuse, but, additionally, 50% targeted women and 32% had histories of stalking or harassment. The 22 shootings Mother Jones analyzed account for more than a third of the public mass shootings since 2011.

So when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocks the Violence Against Women Act in part because it would take guns away from abusers, or when Florida police arrest a woman for turning in her estranged husband’s guns that he was legally prohibited from having, this is the context. This is what politicians and our legal system and, heaven knows, the entire gun lobby, led by the NRA, are fighting to make a little more possible.

Misogyny kills, and there’s more than enough misogyny to go around.