US general public desensitized to mass shootings and gun violence

On May 24th a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in South Texas Killing 19 children and two adults. The killer was only just 18 years of age carried out the mass shooting with a handgun, an AR 15 Semi Automatic Rifle and numerous high capacity magazines.

The incident marks the 27th school shooting this year, and it came just 10 days after a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in which 10 people were killed.

The incident marks the 27th school shooting this year and occurred just 10 days after another shooting in Buffalo, New York, in which two people were killed.

Mass shootings in the US have become so frequent that the general population seems to have become desensitized to the concept.

US mass shootings in a nutshell

Why mass shootings have become so frequent and is it somehow normal for Americans?

The Gun Violence Archive, GVA, which is an independent data collection organization, has documented 212 mass shootings that have occurred this year up to and including May 25th. 

The GVA defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed excluding the shooter. The United States ended 2021 with 693 mass shootings, the year before there were 611 and 2019 included 417.

As for school shootings, in 2021 there were 34 shooting incidences at educational institutions the highest since the GVA started the database.

Guns caused most deaths among US kids, teens in 2020: Study

A recent study has revealed that more children and teenagers in the United States were killed by guns than any other cause in 2020.

In 2020 there were 10 shootings, 2019 and 2018, each produced 24 shootings. Active shooter lockdown drills are a common part of the school curriculum from primary school to high school.

The 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut was the deadliest such attack. 20 of the 26 victims were between the ages of six and seven.

School shooting in Texas blamed on easy access to guns

18 year old Salvador Ramos is suspected of shooting his grandmother before going on a killing spree at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Firearms related deaths are a fixture in American life. There were 1.5 million of them between 1968 and 2017 that's higher than the total number of soldiers killed in every US conflict since the so called War Were independence in 1775.

In 2020 alone more than 45,000 Americans died looking into the barrel of a gun, whether by homicide or suicide. This is more than any other year on record. the figure represents a 25% increase from five years prior and a 43% increase from 2010.

Tens of thousands hold protests against gun violence in US

Thousands of protesters have rallied against gun violence in cities across the United States following recent mass shootings in Texas, and New York.

But the issue is a highly political one, pitting gun control advocates against sectors of the population fiercely protective of their constitutionally enshrined right to bear arms.

You might wonder how many guns there are in the US. While calculating the number of guns in private hands around the world is difficult it is estimated that there were 319 million guns in circulation in 2018 and that the United States is on top of the list of the top 10 civilian gun owning countries.

The US ratio of 120.5 firearms per 100 residents, which is up from 88 per 100 in 2011, far surpasses that of other countries around the world.

More recent data suggests that gun owned ownership grew significantly over the last several years.

Majority of Americans prioritize laws reducing gun violence over gun rights: Poll

Most Americans believe the new legislation aimed at reducing gun violence should be prioritized over protecting gun rights amid a deadly spate of mass shootings in the country, according to a new poll.

A study published by the annals of internal medicine in February found that 7.5 million US adults, which is just under 3% of the population, became first time gun owners between January 2019 and April 2021.

This in turn exposed 11 million people to firearms in their homes including 5 million children. About half of new gun owners in that time period where women, while 40% were either black or Hispanic.

A separate study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2021 linked a rise in gun ownership during the pandemic to higher rates of gun related injuries on, and inflicted by, children.

Multiple people shot, one fatally, in Ohio

One person was killed and at least two other people were injured in a shooting on Wednesday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio, according to police.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, says a total of 45,222 people died from gun related injuries of all causes during 2020

And while mass shootings and gun murders generally garner more media attention, of the total 54% of the deaths, about 24,300, were suicides.

In 2016 a study uncovered a strong correlation between the higher levels of gun ownership in any particular State and higher firearm suicide rates for both men and women.

US gun epidemic: 11 killed in a dozen mass shootings over weekend

The gun epidemic continued to rip through multiple communities across the US this weekend, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens of others.

On average 53 people are killed each day by a firearm in the US.

The data also shows that most murders, 79% of them, are carried out with guns That's a significantly larger proportion of homicides than is the case in Canada, England and Wales, Australia and many other countries

But that seems to be the American life something that the government makes sure they can never get away from.

US in horror: 5 killed, 27 injured in string of weekend mass shootings

US law enforcement officers responded to at least seven mass shootings in seven cities across the country since Friday night.

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