The U.S. has had a recorded number of 247 mass shootings in the past 238 days of 2015, which means that there has been an average of more than one mass shooting per day in the country this year.
According to Business Insider, the said statistics is being monitored by subreddit Guns Are Cool's (GRC) creation, the Mass Shooting Tracker.
According to the tracker, the recent shooting, which cause the death of a Virginia reporter and cameraman, as per Business Insider, was not the first shooting incident of the day. Earlier, at around 3:15 a.m., a home invasion happened in Brooklyn, and four people were shot, according to a report from Star Tribune.
GRC defines mass shooting as "when four or more people are shot in an event, or related series of events, likely without a cooling off period." This is important to note that it has recorded the shootings based on that definition, which is different from how authorities define it.
The FBI defines mass shooting (or mass murder) to have at least three people killed by gunfire.
According to the Washington Post, though the tracker's definition is broader, it still can be useful because it captures many high-profile violent incidents that do not pass the FBI's criteria because those do not necessarily lead to victims being murdered by gunfire.
However, John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center, says that the Tracker has recorded "shootings where people aren't killed, criminal gangs are involved, and cases take place out of public view," which simply means that some recorded shootings aren't necessarily worthy of the attention given to it.
A gun rights advocate, Lott, said that he'd prefer to "focus on the cases that people are most concerned about, in the way the government defines them"
Washington Post adds that a broader definition of mass shooting underscores the reality that guns make it easier to hurt many people in a short amount of time. With a gun, one has to only have their target within their line of sight; whereas with a knife, the assailant has to come closer, within an arm's length at best.
It's true that the gun problem in the U.S. can't be fixed immediately, but still, efforts have to be done to at least minimize it.
After hearing of the fatal shooting that happened in Virginia, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton responded to the incident via a tweet.
Heartbroken and angry. We must act to stop gun violence, and we cannot wait any longer. Praying for the victims' families in Virginia. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) August 26, 2015
"We have got to do something about gun violence in America," Clinton said, via Business Insider. "And I will take it on."
"There's so much evidence that if guns were not so readily available, if there were universal background checks ... that maybe we could prevent this kind of carnage," she added.
