What were the most notable right-wing extremist attacks in the US in 2022?
Executive summary
In 2022 the most notable right‑wing extremist attacks in the United States included the May 14 Buffalo supermarket mass shooting that killed 10 people and the May 2022 shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs that killed five; ADL and other analyses show right‑wing actors were responsible for all documented extremist‑related murders that year (ADL reports and summaries) [1] [2]. Independent outlets and researchers place 2022 within a broader recent pattern in which white‑supremacist and other right‑wing violence produced most extremist fatalities in the U.S. in recent years [1] [3].
1. The headline attacks: Buffalo and Colorado Springs
Two mass shootings in May 2022 drew national attention: the Buffalo supermarket attack, a racially motivated white‑supremacist massacre that killed 10 people, and the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting that killed five people and was widely categorized alongside right‑wing extremist violence; ADL’s recounting of recent years singles out these attacks as part of a spike in white‑supremacist mass killings that shaped 2017–2022 casualty totals [1] [2] [3].
2. ADL’s 2017–2022 count and the 2022 murder tally
The Anti‑Defamation League’s Center on Extremism documented 67 domestic terrorist incidents by right‑wing extremists from 2017 through 2022 and reports that right‑wing terror attacks killed 58 people in that period; ADL further states that all extremist‑related murders it documented in 2022 were carried out by right‑wing actors [1] [2].
3. Why 2022 fit a worrying trend
ADL and other analysts describe a trend in which white‑supremacist mass shootings — often influenced by “accelerationist” propaganda urging violence to hasten societal collapse — account for the deadliest episodes; ADL identifies white supremacists as the dominant far‑right terror threat in recent years, a shift from earlier balances with anti‑government extremists [1] [2].
4. Broader data context: right‑wing violence versus other ideologies
Multiple research outlets and think tanks place U.S. right‑wing extremist violence above other domestic ideological threats in both frequency and lethality: Brookings and PBS syntheses note that recent years’ deadliest domestic terrorist attacks have been linked to the far right, and that right‑wing actors account for the majority of domestic terrorism deaths since 2001 in cited analyses [3] [4]. Academic comparisons also show substantial right‑wing involvement in U.S. political violence over decades [5].
5. Other notable 2022 incidents and the “grab‑bag” radical
Reporting by Reuters and others documents a variety of 2022 incidents beyond headline mass shootings, including stabbings and attacks by individuals with mixed, idiosyncratic right‑wing beliefs; Reuters describes a rise of “grab‑bag” radicals who blend conspiracies and grievances rather than acting as members of coherent groups, and cites a 2022 stabbing of a journalist in Nevada as a fatal political‑violence incident from that year [6].
6. Disagreement and analytic caveats in sources
Sources converge on the lethality of right‑wing attacks but differ in framing scope and metrics. ADL tallies incidents and fatalities; academic work compares ideological violence across eras and geographies; some analyses emphasize that right‑wing actors dominate U.S. domestic terrorism deaths since 2001, while researchers recommend careful metric choices when comparing ideologies [1] [5] [4]. Available sources do not mention a comprehensive, single government‑issued list of every 2022 incident consolidated in one table; ADL’s and academic datasets are the primary bases cited here [1] [5].
7. What the numbers mean for policy and public discourse
The concentration of extremist murders in 2022 among right‑wing actors, and the role of white‑supremacist accelerationist rhetoric, has driven calls for targeted counter‑extremism resources, improved threat reporting, and social‑media interventions; Brookings and ADL note the national security implications and urge tailored responses [3] [1]. Critics of parity narratives argue data show right‑wing violence remains the dominant lethal domestic threat, a view reflected in multiple studies and media reviews [4] [7].
Limitations and next steps: this summary uses the provided reporting and research snapshots; it does not attempt an exhaustive incident list beyond the major cases discussed here because available sources supplied for this query emphasize ADL’s dataset, academic comparisons, and investigative journalism rather than a single complete catalog of every 2022 right‑wing extremist attack [1] [5] [6].