THE mass shooting which occurred last week at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College was just one of a drastically rising number of school shootings that have occurred recently in the US.
Everytownresearch.org, an initiative within the pro-gun Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, published a report on Saturday, Oct. 3 documenting every reported single school shooting across America since 2013. According to the report, there have been at least 142 school shootings–the average of nearly one a week.
“How many more before our leaders pass common-sense laws to prevent gun violence and save lives?” the report asks. “Communities all over the country live in fear of gun violence. That’s unacceptable. We should feel secure in sending our children to school–comforted by the knowledge that they’re safe.”
The report also includes an interactive map of the US, with clickable red dots on practically every single state from Maine to New Mexico. Many of the red dots are shooting incidents which occurred over 2013-2015 throughout the mid- and Southwest, and scattered throughout the West Coast.
The statistics include a number of incidents in which a gun was fired on campus, but no one was hit, reported Vox. The serious incidents have killed a total of 73 people, many of them students.
Everytown defines a school shooting as “any incident where a firearm is discharged inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds, as documented by the press and confirmed through further inquiries with law enforcement.” It also includes cases where a gun went off accidentally, or where a would-be killer missed his targets or surrendered.
The map illustrates the obvious threat guns pose to schools, in addition to their toll on students and faculty.
Many of the cases of fatal shootings or gun injuries on the map reveals problems between romantic partners or friends. “This speaks to why, according to gun researchers, the mere presence of many guns makes society more dangerous,” wrote Zack Beauchamp on Vox. “When people routinely carry deadly weapons, the chances of emotionally charged conversations spiraling out of control are substantially higher.”
A report by the Urban Institute also showed that in the single school district of Washington, DC, at least 336 gunshots were fired in the vicinity of campuses in one school year.
Noting earlier incidents in Columbine, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook, studies have shown the long-term impacts on the community as a whole–including reduced student enrollment, depression, and standardized test scores lowered by nearly 5 percent.
The Umpqua shooting in Oregon is the 45th school shooting in 2015. The event incited an emotional, heated response from President Obama, who strongly advocated for gun control in a press conference following the incident.
“My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation and the aftermath of it, we’ve become numb to this,” Obama said on Thursday, Oct. 1st. “It cannot be this easy for someone who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.”
“Each time this happens, I’m going to say that we can actually do something about it. But we are going to have to change our laws. This is not something I can do by myself,” he said from the White House, demanding help from Congress to make gun control legislation possible and prevent any more risks.
It was the President’s 15th address to the nation about a shooting incident during his administration, according to the White House Press Pool.
“We are not the only country on Earth that has people with mental illnesses or want to do harm to other people. We are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months,” Obama said, urging Americans to speak up about their views of gun control, and to vote for officials who reflect these views.
“In our country when someone asks ‘did you hear about this school shooting?’ we need to ask, ‘which one?’ and that needs to change,” Colin Goddard, a survivor of the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting and a policy advocate at Everyone, told Newsweek.
“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,” Obama said.
