As 2023 enters its final weeks, the United States has unfortunately set a record that brings no sense of pride.
This year, the country witnessed 630 mass shootings, as defined by the Gun Violence Archive, involving a minimum of four victims, either injured or killed.
With just three weeks left in the year, it’s unlikely it will surpass the 647 mass shootings set last year (with 690 in 2021 being the highest). However, there were 38 instances of mass killings with guns in 2023, which involved four or more victims killed, excluding the shooter, marking the highest count since at least 2006, according to the Washington Post.
As of Dec. 5, GVA reports a total of 39,951 gun-related deaths in the U.S. this year, including 22,374 suicides. Additionally, 1,573 minors under the age of 18 have been fatally shot.
Among the 630 mass shootings recorded, there were 1,463 unintentional shootings and 34,107 injuries.
The most notable mass shootings of the year took place in Lewiston, Maine, where a shooter killed 18 people and injured 13 others in October at two separate locations, and in Monterey Park, California, where a mass shooting at a dance studio on Lunar New Year resulted in 11 deaths and 10 injuries.
As mass shootings are becoming deadlier and far more common, the White House established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention in September with the sole purpose of reducing firearms deaths in the country.
However, President Joe Biden continues to call on Congress to take further action and reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban, known as the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, which expired in 2004. The ban prohibited the manufacture or sale for civilian use of specific semiautomatic weapons and magazines capable of holding 10 rounds or more.
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