Chart shows how common mass shootings are in America
After another mass shooting in the US on Wednesday, public officials offered prayers for the victims and bemoaned how common mass shootings have become in America.
The US has been hit with two high-profile shootings in the span of five days.
The first, on Friday, was at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. Three people, including a police officer, died. Several others were injured.
The second shooting, which occurred on Wednesday in San Bernardino, California, was at a center that provides services to the disabled. The shooting left 14 dead and several more injured.
Looking at data on mass shootings, it shouldn't be that surprising that these two events happened so close together. ShootingTracker.com, which is run by the Guns Are Cool page on the social-networking website Reddit, shows just how common mass shootings are in the US.
The tracker defines a "mass shooting" as an incident in which four or more people, including the gunman, are killed or injured. This differs slightly from other definitions - like that of the FBI, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are killed.
Here's a look at the data from the last three years. More often than not, the next "mass shooting," per the tracker's definition, occurs within the first two days after the last:
