The Number Of School Shootings In The U.S. Vs. These Other Major Nations Is Staggering

As people in the United States grapple with yet another mass shooting, CNN revealed in a Monday report that the number of school shootings in the U.S. vs. other industrialized nations is stunning. Compared with the rest of the world's most economically advanced nations, the news network reported that America has had 57 times as many school shootings as Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom all combined.

Since Jan. 1, 2009, there have been 288 school shootings in the United States, according to CNN. The network reported that its criterion for defining a school shooting involved at least one injury on school campus. The disturbing report arrives only three days after a horrific school shooting took place at the Santa Fe High School in Texas. The shooting, which killed 10 people and injured 13, led to increased criticism and outrage from anti-gun violence activists, including the student survivors of another school shooting that took place in Parkland, Florida, in February. The February school shooting killed 17 people and has since sparked massive protests against gun violence.

One of the student survivors from Parkland, Emma Gonzales, empathized with Santa Fe survivors and tweeted, "You deserve more than Thoughts and Prayers, and after supporting us by walking out we will be there to support you by raising up your voices."

It's an infographic that may startle some readers. CNN's depicted comparison is shown in America's dark red line exceeding every single other developed nation's. Compared to the remaining nations like Japan, Italy, and the rest, America's red line — meant to portray its school shootings — looks alarming, thick, and almost endless. On Twitter, the report has elicited dismay and concern.

A father of one of the victims killed in the Parkland shooting, Fred Guttenberg, shared the report on his Twitter profile and said, "If this does not shake you and force you to want to do more to fix this, then you should not be part of this conversation as you are without a soul. Enough is enough! For those in office who do not fix this, we will fire you."

Echoing Guttenberg's sentiment in a separate tweet, another Twitter user named Richard Watkins tweeted, "Collectively, our nation's leaders are either incapable of protecting us or they simply don't care. You be the judge. The U.S. has had 57 times as many school shootings as the other major industrialized nations combined."

For the purpose of definition and parameters, CNN reported that it included all school shootings, including gang violence. The network also reported that the school shootings covered incidents related to grade levels as young as kindergarten and as advanced as universities. In addition to that, CNN noted that it included accidental firing if it led to an injury on campus. In March, a gun-trained teacher accidentally discharged his firearm in a California classroom during a class on public safety. At least, three people were injured, according to authorities.

In a caveat, CNN reported that sometimes incidents of non-fatal school shootings are not published in local newspapers and because of that reason, information on such occurrences — terrifying as they may be to those in the crosshairs of such violence — is scarce and difficult to find.

It's a report that paints a grim picture for those in the United States who want stronger legislation to curtail gun violence. But it gets even more disturbing as CNN broadened its scope in order to see how America fared against other nations apart from the developed countries.

While there were indeed horrific incidents like the Taliban attack on a Pakistani school in 2014 which killed 145 people as well as 147 people killed at a Kenya college after an extremist attack in 2015, America still led other nations "by a wide margin" when it came to the sheer frequency of school shootings.