America has a problem. The country has reached 40 school shootings this year alone, leaving many parents and pupils concerned that they they could become the next statistic in a bloody wave of mass shootings.
The latest school shooting was on Monday at the Central Visual & Performing Arts High School in St Louis, Missouri State. Authorities identified the shooter as Orlando Harris,who graduated last year from the speciality school.
Police had not confirmed a motive for the shooting but said they were investigating whether mental illness played a part, local media reported on Tuesday.
Police said the quick police response potentially saved lives.
According to Education Week’s 2022 School Shooting Tracker, this year, there have been 40 school shootings that resulted in injuries or deaths. More than 657 mass shootings have been recorded in the country in 2022 alone.
In June, US President Joe Biden signed into law the first major gun-safety legislation passed in decades, as the country continues to deal with a gun-control crisis.
According to CNN reports, the measure failed to ban any weapons, but it includes funding for school safety and state crisis intervention programmes.
School shootings are considered by many to be an epidemic in the US.
According to data from Everytown Research, the US averaged just over 87 school shootings each year from 2013 to 2021.
And, according to World Population Review, on May 24, 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos, who had recently purchased two AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles, walked into the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and opened fire.
Ramos killed 19 pupils and two teachers and wounded several others (including his own grandmother, whom he shot at their home before going to the school) before he was killed by police.
Read my full statement below regarding the heartbreaking school shooting at @CentralVPA this morning.
— Mayor Tishaura O. Jones (@saintlouismayor) October 24, 2022
Our schools and other places of learning should be safe - period. The gun violence epidemic facing our students, teachers, and staff is a public health crisis. pic.twitter.com/lIj9cU1Luy
The US has seen a series of deadly school shootings in recent years, as debate around gun control and calls for the Biden administration to make it more difficult for young people to buy firearms sound louder now more than ever.
Most of the school shootings from 2012 onwards, have been in Texas, followed by California, Illinois, Florida and Pennsylvania.