How many US school shootings have there been in 2018? From Santa Fe High School to Maryland
AS AMERICA reels from yet another deadly school shooting, gun violence in US remains an ongoing issue.
The shooting in Maryland is just one of several to have already taken place in 2018 – but how many have there been overall and what has happened in these incidents? Here are the stats...
How many school shootings have taken place in America in 2018?
As of March 2018, there have been eight school shootings this year in which a gun was discharged and victims were either injured or killed.
The shooting in Maryland is the 20th incident in which a gun has been discharged on a school campus in the US this year, according to gun safety non-profit
However, after that figure was widely shared following the Florida incident, it has been challenged by many outlets over how the organisation categorises "school shootings".
Here are details of the school shootings in 2018 in which people have been wounded or killed – on three other occasions, firearms were discharged without causing physical harm.
- On January 22, shots were fired from a truck in the car park of NET Charter High School in New Orleans, Louisiana, targeting students during their lunch break. One student was injured during the incident.
- On the same date, a 16-year-old male fired at his 15-year-old classmate in the cafeteria of Italy High School, Texas. The young victim was wounded while cops quickly apprehended the teen shooter.
- On January 23, a 15-year-old male student shot 16 people in the lobby at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky, killing two 15-year-olds. One died at the scene and the other passed away from wounds in hospital.
- On February 1, two 15-year-old students were shot and injured inside a classroom at Sal Castro Middle School in Los Angeles, California. A 12-year-old girl was arrested.
- On February 14, a gunman stormed Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing at least 17 people and injuring up to 50. Parkland police arrested former pupil Nikolas Cruz, 19, who was expelled from the school in 2017.
- On March 7, a 17-year-old girl was shot dead and a 17-year-old boy injured in a gun incident at Huffman High School in Birmingham, Alabama.
- On March 20, a teenage gunman shot two classmates before he was tackled by a hero cop in Maryland.
- On May 18, between eight and 10 people were killed in a shooting at Santa Fe High school
- On May 18, an argument in the parking lot of Mount Zion High School in Jonesboro, Georgia led to a shooting.
- On May 25, two people were injured in a shooting at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana.
2Students in Parkland, Florida are led out of the school buildings with their hands on one another's shoulders following the shooting on February 14Credit: AP:Associated Press
How many school shootings have there been since 2013?
Since 2013, there have been over 305 incidents in which a gun was discharged on a school campus in America, again according to .
This averages out to around one shooting a week.
Significant incidents over the last five years include the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 26 people and himself on December 14, 2012.
A report by the revealed that in the single school district of Washington DC, there were at least 336 gunshots near schools over a single school year.
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What are the gun laws in the US?
The Second Amendment of the US Constitution states: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The US, which has less than five percent of the world's population, has between 35 to 50 percent of the world's civilian-owned guns.
America also has the highest homicide-by-firearm rate among the world’s most developed nations.
Federal law sets the minimum standards for firearm regulation in the United States, but individual states have their own laws.
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