Memorial Day Weekend Marred By Over 12 Mass Shootings

Even after a public outcry to put an end to gun violence following the Texas elementary school shooting last week, there were still over a dozen mass shootings across the nation over Memorial Day weekend.

A mass shooting is defined as a shooting where “four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter,” according to the Gun Violence Archive. The organization reported that 156 people died and 412 people were injured in 14 mass shootings from 5 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.

Notable shootings included a Charleston, South Carolina, incident where multiple people, including law enforcement, were shot. Philadelphia was also the location of a shooting that left two dead and injured two more. On Saturday night, six teenagers came under gunfire in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Just one of them may have been an intended target. Two of them are in critical condition.

These shootings followed the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last Tuesday when Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old shooter, used lawfully obtained weapons to take the lives of 19 children and two teachers. The shooting marked the most deadly mass school shooting since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting nearly ten years ago.

On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will look at eight pieces of gun reform, all part of the “Protecting Our Kids Act.” The House is scheduled to vote on it next week.

President Joe Biden pledged action on gun control.

“I will meet with the Congress on guns, I promise you,” the president told reporters on Tuesday.