As the US remembers the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s modern history, where 58 people were gunned down by a disgruntled shooter, the bleeding wound persists of gun violence in America.
On Oct. 1, 2017, a 64-year-old gunman went on a 15-minute rampage from his 32nd-floor hotel room, shooting at thousands of terrorized concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Fifty-eight people died and more than 850 were injured. By the time police stormed the gunman's room he had committed suicide.
In the past five years, the US has continued to see similar high-profile incidents make headlines although mass shootings make up a tiny fraction of gun deaths in the US.
"Mass shootings involve 0.2% of all firearm injuries," said Dr. Sandra McKay, associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and nonresident fellow for Firearms Injury Prevention and Safety at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
McKay told Anadolu Agency via email that of the more than 45,000 people who die annually from firearms injuries, 54% are from suicides and 43% from homicides, although she said mass shootings have risen over the years.
"In the US there appears to be a slight upward trend in the last 4 decades, with an incidence of 1 per 50 million," according to McKay, who emphasized that mass shootings get the attention of the public because they "make the most headlines due to their very public and tragic natures."
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