This year’s 309th mass shooting happened at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. Six people were killed and more than 25 were hurt. As of 2022, the non-profit Gun Violence Archive (GVA) has found that on average, 11 mass shootings happen every week.
Every time a mass shooting makes the news, like the tragedy at the Highland Park parade or the one at the Uvalde school, the whole country is saddened by the violence. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a congresswoman from New Jersey, used Twitter to say the same thing. She said, “I’m sad, I’m angry, and I’m sick of hearing the same story over and over.” “How can we celebrate freedom today if we can’t even feel safe while we’re celebrating?”
Coleman said in another tweet, “We saved lives when we kept war weapons out of our communities. This year, there have been more than 300 mass shootings in the US. If that’s not a good enough reason to #BanAssaultWeapons again, I don’t know what is.” GunPolicy.org says that by 2020, the gun homicide rate will be 26 times higher than in other high-income countries. One reason for this is that guns are easy to get.
A memorial is seen surrounding the Robb Elementary School following the mass shoot on May 26
The findings by GVA
Metro says that on July 5, GVA, a group that keeps track of deaths and injuries caused by guns being fired, updated its records. The group calls a shooting a “mass shooting” when four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter. So far this year, gun violence has caused 22,417 deaths, which is more than the 19,411 deaths that were caused by guns in all of 2020. Since 2012, the number has been going up, from 12,418 to 15,448 in 2019.
The never-ending tragedy of mass shootings
Here are some examples of mass shootings that happened in 2022:
On January 23, a Wisconsin man, age 34, was charged with killing six people whose bodies were found in January in a Milwaukee duplex. The victims were found with gunshot wounds, which pointed to a failed attempt to rob them.
Sacramento, April 3: At least five shooters from rival gangs killed six people and hurt 12 others in a gunfight outside bars just blocks from California’s Capitol.
On May 14, a white 18-year-old wearing military gear and live streaming with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in a mostly Black neighborhood of Buffalo, killing 10 people and hurting three others.
On May 24 in Uvalde, Texas, a young gunman went on a shooting spree at an elementary school, killing 19 kids and two teachers.
Tulsa, June 1: A man who blamed a doctor for the pain he felt after back surgery shot and killed four people, including the doctor, at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
On July 4, a gunman with a powerful rifle opened fire at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, killing at least six people.
TheAncenstry
