Study: Road rage incidents involving guns are on the rise

The number of gun-related road rage incidents are on the rise.

According to a report by The Trace, road rage incidents in which someone brandished or fired a gun have risen steadily over the last three years, from 247 in 2014 to 620 in 2016.

For the report, The Trace analyzed data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, whose researchers tagged gun-related incidents with descriptors that allow each to be categorized.

Those incidents tagged with road rage descriptors totaled 1,319 for the three-year span, and nationwide a total of 354 people were wounded and 136 killed in those incidents.

Out of all the states, Florida had the highest total number of gun-related road rage incidents, with 146 reported in the three-year span. From those incidents, 33 people were wounded and 15 killed.

“It’s kind of the Wild West on the road here,” said Thomas Gabor, a South Florida criminologist.

The Trace notes Florida was one of the first states to legalize concealed-carry and also points out the expansion of the state’s stand your ground laws recently passed in the Florida Legislature, arguing those factors may have aggravated the state’s gun-related road rage problem.

As far as cities go, Memphis had the highest number of gun-related road rage incidents, with a total of 28 reported. San Antonio and Houston came in a close second and third place, with 27 and 26 respectively.

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