The rate of mass shootings so far this year is outpacing the number of days in the calendar year, according to an organization that tracks them.
According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 314 mass shooting incidents in 2022, for an average of about 1.7 per day. The tally includes the deadly rampage in Highland Park, Ill., in which a gunman opened fire on a Fourth of July parade, killing six people and injuring dozens of others.
But there were at least five other mass shooting incidents identified by the Gun Violence Archive on July 4 alone, including one in Boston. The organization counts any shooting in which four or more people are shot — excluding the shooter — as a mass shooting.
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A shooting in Dorchester early Monday was included in the Gun Violence Archive’s tally of mass shootings on July 4. Three people who appeared to be suffering from non-life threatening gunshot wounds were transported to a hospital early Monday morning, according to Boston Police, and a fourth walked into a hospital for treatment. However, the Globe reported Monday that one of the victims was later determined to have been injured by shards of glass, not gunfire.
The number of high profile mass shootings, including a racist attack in a Buffalo supermarket that killed 10 people and a massacre at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 students and two teachers, has rocked the US this year and led to a new call for stronger gun control measures. President Biden last month signed into law a modest gun control bill, which was the biggest change to the nation’s gun laws in decades. At the same time, the Supreme Court last month struck down a key New York law in a victory for advocates of even looser gun regulations.
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The Gun Violence Archive is a nonprofit that seeks to document gun violence and gun crime in the United States, a massive undertaking in a nation awash in firearms.
Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her @cprignano.