In 2016 the United States suffered from the highest number of deaths linked to domestic extremist attacks since 1995, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League.
The report revealed 2016 to be the second-deadliest year for domestic extremist-related deaths since 1970.
The shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, which resulted in the deaths of 49 people, was the deadliest domestic attack last year. Its tragically high death toll made domestic Islamic extremists the deadliest ideologues in 2016.
“Though not the most lethal, in some ways the most troubling extremist-related murders that occurred in 2016,” ADL noted, “were the murders of police officers at the hands of black nationalists. Eight police officers were killed in two incidents in which extremists deliberately targeted police officers for murder.”
The study also found a break from a decades-long pattern, reporting, “The year 2016 was unusual in that right-wing extremists did not dominate the murder statistics, as they have each year for more than 30 years.”
“Anti-government extremists and white supremacists were responsible for only a minority of extremist related deaths in 2016,” the ADL report notes, “though they did commit two triple homicides.”
In a year when the media fixated on the proliferation of white nationalism and the “alt-right,” it is interesting to note ADL’s findings.
In a press release announcing the release of the report, ADL explained the number of “lethal incidents” linked to extremists dropped from 29 in 2015 to 11 in 2016.
“Notwithstanding the horrific Pulse attack, 2016 might have been considered a ‘mild’ year for extremist-related deaths,” ADL said.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
