These graphs impressively show how common mass shootings are in the US “The situation for the virus is becoming precarious” – German virologist Drosten on the corona situation

Two days before Thanksgiving: A man burst into a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, a city of 250,000, and began shooting wildly. He kills six people, injures six others and then shoots himself. According to the police, the shooter was an employee of the supermarket and nothing is known about the background to the crime.

It is the second violent crime involving a gun in the United States within days: Just this weekend, five people were killed and 17 others injured in gunfire at a Colorado club popular with gays, lesbians and the trans community .

Unfortunately, as bad and extraordinary as the acts of violence are for the victims, their relatives and for the respective places, they are commonplace. Reports of major shootings have long since become the norm in the United States. On average, more than one violent act involving firearms and more than three victims occur per day.

The bloody trail of these so-called “mass shootings” can be traced closely in the “Gun Violence Archive”, which is updated daily by a non-profit organization with data on gun-related deaths and injuries. The numbers are frightening: Since the beginning of 2014, there have been 4,002 mass shootings in the US, leaving 16,732 injured and 4,229 dead.

After a short drop in the number of shootings in 2018 and with it the number of injuries and deaths, the number of violent crimes involving firearms has increased sharply in recent years. After 690 mass shootings with 704 dead and 2,829 injured in 2021, the United States is heading for a new negative record this year. On Wednesday, November 23, there were 609 shootings with 637 killed and 2,552 injured in the statistics.

Almost every day has to add a "mass shooting" as a look at the calendar for the current year shows. Especially on the weekends, there is almost always a bang: this year there were only three weekend days without a mass shooting.

A look at the interactive overview map shows that the states on the east coast are more affected by gun deaths than the middle states or those on the west coast, with California being a sad exception. Most crimes take place in the metropolitan area or near the center of a large city, but gun-related tragedies also occur in rural areas time and time again.

In recent times, there have been repeated calls for gun laws to be tightened - mostly following particularly brutal acts such as the massacre at a school in the small Texas town of Uvalde in which 19 schoolchildren, two teachers and the hitman were shot dead in May.

The problem is now seen as a "mass shooting crisis" - no longer as a collection of many individual cases, but as a constantly looming phenomenon. But so far no political initiative has succeeded in curbing the number of guns and their owners. And there's no quick fix in sight any time soon, which means reports of "mass shootings" will unfortunately remain commonplace.