Study finds that alcohol sales increase in communities after mass shootings

In the gun-loving United States, tragic mass shootings occur frequently, causing serious trauma not only to the direct victims who are injured or killed, but also to their families and communities. A new study has revealed that alcohol sales increase in the long term in areas where mass shootings have occurred, highlighting the impact of mass shootings on local communities.

Mass shootings durably increase the sale of alcohol in American communities | PNAS Nexus | Oxford Academic

https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/1/pgae570/7950995

Mass shootings lead to years of increased alcohol sales in communities
https://www.psypost.org/mass-shootings-lead-to-years-of-increased-alcohol-sales-in-communities/

Mass shootings have a devastating impact on communities, but it is difficult to measure the impact on communities that are not directly affected by them. In this study, a research team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison looked at the impact of mass shootings by looking at changes in alcohol sales in the community.

The research team collected point-of-sale (POS) data from more than 90 major retail chains operating in the United States from 2006 to 2019 and investigated alcohol sales at more than 35,000 retail stores in total, which accounted for more than half of all grocery and drug stores in the United States.

In addition, the research team extracted 'mass shootings in which at least four people were killed within 24 hours' that occurred between 2006 and 2019 from databases managed by Northeastern University , USA Today , and the Associated Press . A total of 326 mass shootings occurred during the period, and these incidents were classified by location and circumstances.

In this study, we analyzed the occurrence of mass shootings and changes in alcohol sales using geographic areas indicated by the first three digits of the ZIP code (ZIP-3 level), which is a postal code in the United States. There are a total of 923 ZIP-3 levels in the United States, with an average area of about 8,331 square kilometers, an average population of about 346,500 people, and an average alcohol sales of about $325,000 (about 49 million yen) per week.

The analysis found that alcohol sales in ZIP-3 areas where mass shootings occurred increased for at least two years after the incidents, with average alcohol sales increasing by about 3.5% and sales in the community increasing by more than $22,000 per week on average.

However, not all mass shootings had the same impact. The increase in alcohol sales was greatest when the mass shootings took place in 'public places,' which increased alcohol sales by about 5.5%, or an average of more than $42,000 per week in sales. In contrast, mass shootings that took place in 'private homes' did not lead to an increase in alcohol sales.

Regarding why the impact of mass shootings varies depending on the location of the incident, the research team states, 'The secondary trauma caused by mass shootings is at least in part due to the public nature of the incident. When a mass shooting occurs in a public place, it reminds people that their community is no longer a protected, safe place. When a mass murder occurs in a private place, it may not involve the community in the same way. Not all mass deaths are equally traumatic.'

Increased alcohol sales not only indicate that a community is stressed, but may also cause increased stress and violence in the community as a whole. The research team pointed out that a mass shooting could lead to increased alcohol sales in the community, which could lead to a 'negative spiral' that leads to further violence.