The United States of America, a great but very flawed nation is one of the highest-ranking countries in the world—which isn’t always a good thing. From its number one rating in areas like defense spending (almost half a trillion dollars in 2015 according to data from the National Priorities Project), to its astronomical and ever rising national debt (which increases $40,000 a second (The Telegraph))—America consistently comes out on top. Although rankings like these are upsetting to hear, the most frustrating is the fact that this country outranks every other nation in the world in guns, mass shootings, and gun violence. So far, there have been nearly 1,600 mass shootings since one of the most horrific shootings in modern history at Sandy …show more content…
Because there is no legal or official definition for the term, what constitutes a mass shooting in this country often varies (Also, mass shootings can only be defined by statistics provided in recent modern history, because incidences like these may have been recorded in the past, but it is often hard to recover that kind of data, whereas now information from incidents that occur now is easily accessible. (CNN)). According to the FBI, a mass shooting is an incident in which “four or more shot and/or killed in a single event [incident], at the same general time and location, not including the shooter” (Mass Shooting Tracker). However, a more widely recognized definition, is “a shooting with at least three victims, excluding the perpetrator” (CNN). The bar for an event like this occurring is set so low, that many people don’t even realize that these incidents occur on almost a daily basis—they occur so frequently that the mainstream media often only reports mass shootings where dozens of people have been injured or killed. For example, the most recently alarming mass shooting occurred only a month ago in Parkland, Florida at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a former student waltzed into one of the school buildings with an AR-15, pulled a fire alarm, and aimed his weapon at fleeing students, faculty, and staff, killing 17, and wounding 17 other victims, and has been broadcast across every platform almost nonstop. While this heartbreaking tragedy deserves all of the media attention it’s been receiving, there have been approximately 14 additional mass shootings, where 14 people have been killed, and almost 50 have been injured, with very little to no coverage in the news. Mainstream media absolutely shapes our perceptions of people and events, and by influencing public opinion, the media also directly influences our political atmosphere gun laws. Almost three