Report: US Extremist Mass Killings Spiked Over Last Decade

Facts

• According to a new report published by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Thursday, the number of mass killings linked to extremism in the US over the past decade was three times higher than in any other decade since the 1970s.
• Between 2010 and 2020, there were 21 extremism-linked mass killings, compared to between two and seven in each of the previous decades from the 1970s onwards. The number of deaths also jumped to record highs, reaching 164 — higher than any other decade except the 1990s, during which the Oklahoma City bombing killed 168.
• The report cited several factors driving this increase, including shootings inspired by the rise of the Islamic State group, several targeting police officers in response to cops shooting civilians, and others linked to the promotion of violence by white supremacists.
• The ADL's Center on Extremism (COE), which tracks and compiles various forms of extremism into an annual report, added that the trend continued with five mass killings in 2021 and 2022 alone, as many as there were in the entire first decade of the century.
• It also claims that right-wing extremism was behind every ideology-based mass killing in 2022, reporting that 60% of the deaths stemming from extremist mass killings that year came from the shooting in a supermarket in Buffalo, NY, that targeted Black people and the mass shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado.
• Furthermore, 93% of killings in 2022 were reportedly committed with firearms, and no police were killed by extremists that year for the first time since 2011.

Sources: Associated Press, Guardian, Breitbart, Washington Post, and Axios.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by ADL. Left-wing extremists do exist and commit violence, but unlike those on the right, they typically target property rather than people. Right-wing extremism is the most dangerous movement facing the US due to how broad it is. From individual hate crimes to mass shootings targeting people of color and the LGTBQ+ community, the white, straight, and male supremacy ideologies have garnered tremendous support, leading to this dangerously high spike in violence and death.
• Right narrative, as provided by New American. The so-called studies published by the ADL in recent years have fraudulently rearranged real statistics to promote blatant lies and brainwash the American people into thinking conservatives are the evilest among us. It does this by secretly combining groups such as Islamic radicals with white supremacists — who don't embody conservative values — while conveniently ignoring the vast majority of shooting deaths committed by non-ideological gangs. The US does face a lot of violence, but it has little to do with either left-wing or right-wing extremism.