Yesterday morning, a gunman opened fire at a high school in Troutdale, Oregon, killing one and injuring many. This marks the 74th school shooting to occur in the United States since 26 people (20 of them children) were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, CT. The average number of school shootings in America, according to data collected by Everytown for Gun Safety, is now 1.37 per week.
Everytown for Gun Safety classifies a school shooting as an incident when:
a firearm was discharged inside a school building or on school or campus grounds, as documented in publicly reported news accounts. This includes assaults, homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings. Incidents in which guns were brought into schools but not fired there, or were fired off school grounds after having been possessed in schools, were not included.
According to a report by Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety in America and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, 44 shootings took place at schools between December 15, 2012 and February 10, 2014. Of the shootings at K-12 schools, 70% were perpetrated by minors and 49% included at least one fatality.
Since the release of the report in February, at least 30 more shootings have occurred on campuses and in schools across the country. (Everytown for Gun Safety used media reports to collect data and notes that 74 school shootings is likely an underestimation.)
Everytown for Gun Safety provides a list of shootings here.
Image via Getty.