As of November 25, there have been 611 mass shootings across the United States in 2022, according to Forbes.
40,376 people have been victims of gun violence this year. 21,978, the vast majority, have been suicides. The remaining 18,398 are homicides.
Just last weekend, a gunman opened fire and killed 5 people in a gay club in Colorado. Another gunman shot and killed 6 people and injured 4 before killing himself inside a Virginia Walmart last Tuesday.
Donya Prioleau works at Walmart. She captured the horrific event on Facebook and witnessed the deaths of her 3 friends.
“Somebody’s baby, mom, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandparents … whoever did not make it home tonight! Thanksgiving is a holiday we celebrate with friends and family … there are those who cannot. I cannot unsee what happened in the breakroom,” Prioleau wrote.
Last Wednesday, shooters in Philadelphia and Temple Hills, Maryland, injured 4 people in separate violent attacks, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Just one day later, on Thanksgiving, a shooter went rampant in Houston, Texas, killing two and injuring two.
There have been 7 mass shootings in the U.S. in just this past week, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
These recent mass shootings have made national headlines and raise concerns about the latest deadly mass shootings and the status of the second amendment.
The United States is no stranger to mass shootings, especially in school settings.
From Columbine, to Sandy Hook, to Parkland, and the many others in the past encouraged students nationwide to call for reform to Gun Laws and gun rights.
The National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) has employed between 14,000 and 20,000 SRO members throughout local, state and federal agencies. But members who are armed must keep their weapons in their designated lockers. In the event of a school shooting, there is little time for the SROs to go to their locker, attain their weapon and fight off the shooter. There is precious time lost that can result in the deaths of innocent lives.
Back-to-back shootings happened in May that left the nation in shambles. In Buffalo, a mass shooter shot and killed 10 people in a grocery store in a predominantly black neighborhood— police investigated the suspect and found he intended on taking black lives. And the shooting that struck the nation was the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 2 teachers and 19 children.
Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and other major cities nationwide saw a drastic increase in violent crime where a gun was used as the main weapon.
In response to the Chesapeake shooting, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin (R) wrote in a statement, “our hearts break with the community of Chesapeake this morning … Heinous acts of violence have no place in our communities.”
Also in response to the recent violence, Shannon Watts, a gun control advocate, shared her anger at the recent tragedy for the Chesapeake community, and all gun violence victims, on Twitter.
“It’s the f—g guns,” she tweeted. “If more guns and fewer gun laws made us safer, America would be the safest nation in the world. But 400,000,000 guns in the hands of civilians coupled with weak gun laws have given us a 25 times higher gun homicide rate than any peer nation.”
A gun control bill was passed by Congress in June that called for strengthened background checks for gun purchases under the age of 21. The House of Representatives passed a controversial “assault weapon ban” bill in July, but it did not get approved in the Senate. GOP members argued it took away Americans’ right to self defense and jeopardized their Second Amendment right.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation in July banning firearms in public places and increased restrictions on concealed carry. However a judge quickly struck down the bill saying that it was too “subjective” and took away the people’s right to self-defense. New York gun owners saw a major win for reforms to concealed carry laws.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that between 500,000 and 3 million firearms were used to save lives each year. This report from the CDC was cited from a defensive gun study, that has since-been deleted from the CDC website.
There are studies being conducted to determine the cause of increase in gun violence. Is it because of COVID-19 pandemic? Inflation? Declines in mental health?
The answer remains unclear.
