Mass murders with gun weapons in modern Russia

In the last 30 years, there has been increased interest in mass murders (with three or more victims) among a wide range of specialists in many countries of the world. The aim is to study MM with the use of firearms in the Russian Federation (RF) and compare various types of MM, including MM weapons with each other. Materials and methods. We analyzed 129 crimes (142 men, 1 women) committed with the use of firearms in the Russian Federation in 1991-2022. The age of the killers ranged from 16 to 70 (mean age is 34.3±15.1). Most of the cases of “mass shooting” were taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_Russia, as well as from electronic media of 59 regions of RF. The comparison groups included 288 cases of MM, 177 cases committed with piercing objects (PO), 36 cases of arson, and 75 other instruments, including a combination of these. The latter group also included 11 cases of the use of firearms in combination with PO (6), blunt weapons (2) and arson (3). Mathematical and statistical processing was carried out using descriptive statistics and χ2 distribution. Results. Over the time period studied, electronic media began to cover incidents with multiple victims significantly more frequently. Approximately every fourth (24.8%) case out of 129 incidents occurred in security forces (armed forces, law enforcement agencies, penitentiary services) using a Kalashnikov assault rifle while on combat duty or guard duty. In most cases, murders were committed with civilian firearms (most often hunting rifles), in isolated cases with unregistered civilian firearms, service firearms, and military handguns; seven cases occurred in groups of 2-4 people. There were 593 victims (on average 4.59±3.6 victims), the majority of cases had three deaths (53.2%). In our proposed working typology of MM, we distinguish: corporate MM (in law enforcement agencies; in educational institutions; in other organizations), non-corporate MM (acquaintances, friends, neighbors, etc.; strangers; acquaintances and strangers), family MM (relatives and friends (family members), blood and non-blood relatives) and mixed MM (victims from two or three of the above groups). Corporate MM is distinguished by the use of firearms, most often committed in law enforcement agencies and educational institutions. The largest number of victims (6.0±3.7) occurred in corporate MM, especially those that occurred in the academic environment 13.3±5.9 victims). Non-corporate MM was more often committed by PO and other instruments. Among aggressors who used firearms, there were more people aged 19 and younger (20.3% vs 5.9% in the comparison group), they were less likely to drink alcohol (22.0% vs 56.3%) but more likely to commit suicides after MM (31.4% vs 7.3%). Conclusion. Cases of MM with the use of firearms in the Russian Federation were more often observed in security (paramilitary) and training (educational) corporations with the largest number of victims (from 3 to 18, on average 6). They were less likely than other aggressors to be intoxicated, but more often committed suicide after MM. Media coverage increased significantly from 1991 to 2022 cover incidents with multiple victims, which may indicate an increase in the number of MM in Russia.