A database compiled by the Associated Press, USA Today, and Northeastern University revealed that 2019 set a grim new record—there were more mass killings in America than in any year since at least the 1970s. Of the 41 mass murders, 33 were carried out with guns, and in total, 211 people were killed in these attacks.

The database defined “mass killings” to include all attacks that left four or more people dead. The institutions began tracking these murders in 2006, but used research from years past to determine that 2019 saw more mass killings than any other year in at least four decades.

Some of these murders—usually shootings in which the attacker targeted strangers in public settings—became national news, like the killings that left dozens dead in cities like Dayton, Ohio, Jersey City, New Jersey, and Odessa and El Paso, Texas. But the majority of the mass killings involved murderers who targeted people they knew, including family members, coworkers, or gang rivals, and did not attract national news coverage. The first mass killing of the year was one such little-covered crime, which found an Oregon man murdering four of his family members with an ax in January.

The statistics for mass shootings, defined as shootings in which four or more victims, excluding the gunmen, are shot, are even more grim. So far, there have been 412 mass shootings in 2019, an average of more than one each day. And with three days left in the year, it’s possible that the number could climb even higher.

Criminologist James Densley told AP that different eras are often marked by crime trends, as the 1970s and ‘80s were by serial murders. "This seems to be the age of mass shootings,” said Densley.

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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