This Is Still Happening. Every Day.

The news in May 2026 was loud. A war in the Middle East. The economy. Political upheaval at every level of government. It would be easy to miss—and understandable why you might scroll past—a shooting headline. There is only so much news one can absorb.

But while we were distracted by a seemingly endless stream of headlines, gun violence didn’t take a break. In May alone, an “assault-style” rifle was fired at rush-hour traffic in Cambridge, Massachusetts; a mosque was targeted in San Diego by two teenagers radicalized by hate online; and a gunman opened fire on a Secret Service checkpoint steps from the White House.

As we’ve written before, nearly 47,000 Americans die from gun violence every year. That’s roughly 128 people every day. These three stories tell us something important about the shape of gun violence in America right now.

Cambridge, Massachusetts: 50+ Rounds on a Busy Street

On the afternoon of May 11, a man named Tyler Brown walked into the middle of Memorial Drive in Cambridge—a busy road along the Charles River, minutes from Boston—and began firing a multi-caliber BCI-Defense Model FF-15 at passing cars. At random. Witnesses described people jumping from vehicles and sprinting for their lives. One woman, driving a school van to pick up children with special needs, crouched alongside another passenger before the two ran through nearby bushes to escape. “I was running for my life,” she told reporters.

In the end, more than 50 rounds were fired in a very short period of time, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney, who also noted that Brown’s weapon had the capacity to strike people on the other side of the Charles River. Two men in separate vehicles suffered life-threatening injuries, but survived. A Massachusetts State Police trooper who arrived on scene engaged the shooter and ultimately stopped him. A nearby Marine, licensed to carry, also helped bring the situation to an end, pulling one terrified driver from her car and telling her to run. She later called him a hero.

Brown, a felon who was recently released from a psychiatric unit, was charged with two counts of armed assault with intent to murder. That this traumatic incident did not become a mass casualty event is a near-miracle, and a testament to the courage of first responders and a quick-thinking civilian. But the conditions that made it possible were already in place: a man with a lengthy violent history and mental health issues, a powerful firearm, and a public street full of people.

San Diego: A Hate Crime at a Mosque

A week later, on May 18, two teenage gunmen, 17-year-old Cain Clark and 18-year-old Caleb Vazquez, approached the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County, and opened fire on people outside. When the shots rang out, police were already searching for one of the teens, whose mother called police concerned that he was suicidal. Her vehicle and several weapons were missing from the home.

Unfortunately, they were too late. Three men were killed: Amin Abdullah, a security guard who authorities said played a crucial role in limiting the loss of life; Mansour Kaziha, a long-time staff member; and Nader Awad, a community member who lived across the street. A landscaper working nearby was also shot at, but was not injured. Inside the mosque, a school was in session. Thankfully, all teachers, students, and staff were safely evacuated.

Though both were San Diegans, Clark and Vazquez met online, where they were radicalized by hate. Racist writings attributed to them were found during the investigation, and they wore military attire bedecked with Nazi symbols during the attack. Chula Vista police previously requested a gun violence restraining order against Vazquez in January 2025, after his classmates and school administrators raised concerns that he idolized mass shooters and was threatening violence. The two suspects died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds in a nearby vehicle following the Mosque attack.

This attack didn’t come from nowhere. It came from online spaces where young men are drawn in by extremist content and given an identity built around violence. It came from easy access to firearms. It came from a failure to identify a threat in time to stop it. These are precisely the risk factors that Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management and targeted prevention efforts are designed to address.

Washington, D.C.: Shots Outside the White House

On the evening of May 23, a 21-year-old man named Nasire Best approached a U.S. Secret Service checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, just outside the White House, and pulled a revolver from his bag. He opened fire on officers, who returned fire and struck him. Best was taken to the hospital and later died. A bystander was also wounded. Best had a prior incident with Secret Service in July 2025, when he attempted to enter the White House and was arrested and taken to a psychiatric ward.

CBS News reporters on the North Lawn of the White House heard the shots—somewhere between 15 and 30 rounds—and were ushered inside. Thankfully, no one in the White House was harmed. But with the shooting occurring less than a month after a gunman breached a security checkpoint near the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, nerves were certainly rattled.

This case raises questions that 97Percent has been writing about for years: what happens when someone with known mental health issues and demonstrated threatening behavior is still able to access a firearm? Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), commonly known as red flag laws, exist for exactly this reason. In this case, the warning was there, and the tools were there—Best’s home state of Maryland has laws restricting gun ownership for those with mental health issues and past criminal convictions. The only thing missing was the will to use them.

Three Stories with One Through-Line

What connects these three incidents? Though they are different in motive, geography, and circumstance, each one involved people who should not have had easy access to a firearm, whether because of criminal history, mental health issues, radicalized ideology, or some combination of the three. But they did have access, and they left behind victims, traumatized survivors, devastated families, and shaken communities.

We’ve written before about how gun violence is negatively impacting everyday American life—how people feel unsafe in public places, in houses of worship, driving to work on a Monday afternoon. Our own research shows that 75% of gun owners, including 69% of registered Republicans, consider gun violence to be an emergency or major problem. And nearly 8 in 10 gun owners say it is weakening the social fabric of American life.

Gun owners aren’t the problem. Responsible gun ownership is something we at 97Percent support and respect. But responsible gun ownership also means demanding that dangerous people can’t exploit the gaps in our system, and that we use the tools available to us, whether that’s red flag laws, background check improvements, or better enforcement of existing law.

In a month full of other headlines, it’s tempting to move on. But Cambridge, San Diego, and Washington remind us of something we can’t afford to forget: gun violence doesn’t take a break. It happens on a Tuesday afternoon on a river road. On a Monday morning at a mosque with a school inside. On a Saturday evening, steps from the most secure building in the country.

Gun violence happens whether we are paying attention or not. The question is whether we’ll demand the tools—and the political will—to stop it.