A makeshift memorial is left in memory of the victims killed in a shooting at the Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, on May 22. (REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman).
Catherine Achu Koshy, Norma Zminkowska and Aditya Krishnan
Texas politicians will be meeting today to discuss school safety measures after the shooting that left 10 people dead and 14 wounded at Santa Fe High School last Friday.
Republican Governor Greg Abbott called for roundtable discussions, saying it’s time to do “more than just pray for the victims and their families,” in a press conference following the shooting.
“We come together today as we deal with one of the most heinous attacks that we’ve ever seen in the history of Texas schools,” he said.
In Public Law 112-265, the U.S. Congress defines mass shootings as a single-day incident that results in three or more deaths.
Counting Friday’s attacks, the U.S. has suffered 21 mass school shootings since Columbine on April 20, 1999, in Littleton, Colo.
Below is a timeline outlining all 22 shootings that happened on the schools’ grounds and during school hours, whether the perpetrator was a student or not.
Texas is known for its gun culture. The National Rifle Association (NRA) hosted its annual meeting in Dallas at the beginning of the month. The state also has the largest number of registered guns. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms statistics from 2017, Texas has a total of 588,696 firearms registered.