More US schoolchildren have died this year than members of the country’s military, The Washington Post has revealed.
Following the deadly shooting in Houston on Friday new figures show that classrooms in the US are more dangerous than battlegrounds as the country comes to grips with a spiralling gun crisis.
Ten children were killed at Santa Fe High School last week, bringing the total number of deaths to almost 30.
A total of 22 school shootings have occurred so far this year where someone was hurt or killed, which averages out to more than one shooting a week in 2018.
That far surpasses figures for the military compiled from Defence Department news releases, including both combat and noncombat deaths.
So far in 2018, there have been 13 service member fatalities in seven incidents. Seven of those casualties occurred in a helicopter crash in Iraq in March. Three of the total number of military casualties were not related to combat.
Figures posted by CNN also paint the current guns crisis in America in a particularly poignant light.
According to their data the US has had 57 times as many school shootings as the other major industrialised nations combined.
Compared to Canada and France, which have seen two school shootings apiece, and Germany, which has seen one, there have been at least 288 school shootings in the United States since January 1, 2009.
These figures include shootings on school grounds involving at least one injury.
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