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U.S. gun violence sets records in first month of 2023: Gun Violence Archive
CGTN
A memorial at a vigil honoring the victims of a shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, U.S., January 23, 2023. /AP
A memorial at a vigil honoring the victims of a shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, U.S., January 23, 2023. /AP

A memorial at a vigil honoring the victims of a shooting at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, California, U.S., January 23, 2023. /AP

The United States has suffered 44 mass shootings this year as of January 29, the worst year on record since the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks shootings in the country, began tracking mass shootings in 2014.

Guns are deeply ingrained in the American society and the nation's political and social debates. There were 641 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2022, the second-highest number behind the 690 in 2021, according to the same source.

A database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University highlighted the nation's first mass shooting last year happened on January 23. By the same date this year, the nation had already endured six mass shootings, leaving 39 people dead. It tracks every attack in the U.S. that has claimed at least four lives, not including the shooter's, since 2006.

While mass killings in the U.S. grab much of the attention, more than half of America's roughly 45,000 annual firearm deaths are from suicide, The Associated Press reported.

Of gun killings, the vast majority leave only one or two people dead. Many of those deaths get no attention, beyond from the authorities and the people left behind, the news agency said.

A 2022 poll by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows overall, 71 percent of Americans say gun laws should be stricter.

(With input from agencies)

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