Which description best describes the frequency trend of active shooter incidents in recent years?

• A. Continuous rise
• B. Decrease
• C. Random fluctuations
• D. Stable

Answer: (D)

The main idea here is whether the frequency of active shooter incidents shows a clear upward or downward trend or stays about the same over recent years. The best description is that the frequency is relatively stable, with only modest year-to-year variation. While some years may have more incidents and others fewer, there isn’t a sustained increase or decrease when you look at several years together. That makes stable the more accurate way to describe the pattern than claiming a continuous rise or a decline. It also isn’t best described as random fluctuations, because there tends to be a recognizable baseline level around which counts hover, rather than completely unpredictable changes.