Unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which defines the “mass shooting” as an incident where four or more people are killed in one case, the Tracker broadens the definition of the “mass shooting” to include all incidents involving four or more people being shot but not necessarily killed.
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The college massacre in Oregon was the 295th mass shooting which happened in the United States in the past 274 days so far in 2015, according to the group Mass Shooting Tracker. But enough was known to trigger outrage and profound frustration that a new place name – Roseburg, Oregon – had joined to the list of communities scarred by mass shootings.
But the broader definition is nonetheless a useful one, because it captures many high-profile instances of violence – such as the Lafayette theatre shootings – that don’t meet the FBI’s criteria. Mass shootings are so common that there are many that never get national headlines. Eleven wounded in a Georgia barroom.
July and March also saw the longest consecutive streak of shootings – at least one incident happened a day in a span of 12 days in each month.
Last month 43 American’s died from mass shootings, while 357 people have lost their lives since the beginning of the year, the Reddit users claims.
And of course, there’s the broader universe of almost 10,000 people killed and 20,000 wounded in almost 40,000 gun violence incidents so far this year.
These numbers tell only the smallest part of the story.
He added: “I hope and pray that I don’t have to come out again during my tenure as president to offer my condolences to families in these circumstances”. And the day after.
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Christopher Ingraham writes about politics, drug policy and all things data.
