Mass shootings continue in Tennessee, Oklahoma

Matilda Harvey Reporter

On Mar. 27, 2023, the Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville, Tennessee became the site of the 130th mass shooting of the year, with three 9-year-olds and three adults dying in the shooting.

According to the Associated Press, at 10:11 a.m., an armed assailant entered the school, which serves around 200 students in grades pre- school through sixth. Police engaged the shooter at 10:24 a.m., and he was dead within two minutes.

Nashville Police Chief John Drake reported that an AR-15 military-style rifle, a 9 mm Kel-Tec SUB2000 pistol caliber carbine, and a 9 mm Smith and Wesson M&P Shield EZ

2.0 handgun were used. Drake also said it had been determined that the firearms were legally purchased. As of April 1, 133 mass shootings have taken place in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. A mass killing is defined as “three or more killings in a single incident” in the Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012. The GVA defines a mass shooting as “ four or more shot or killed, not including the shooter.” Mass shooting statistics typically do not include the assailant or assailants in the number of deaths.

According to The Washington Post’s school shooting database, “there were more school shootings in 2022 —