US averaging one mass shooting a day in 2015

The United States is now averaging more than one mass shooting a day in 2015. According to numbers complied by the moderators of the GunsAreCool subreddit, there have been 247 mass shooting incidents in the 238 days of 2015.

The ironically-named Reddit community tracks gun violence in the US and define "mass shootings" as any incident in which a minimum of four people are shot, gunman included, the Washington Post reported.

"Here at GrC, we count the number of people shot rather than the number people killed because, 'shooting' means 'people shot,'" the group states in its main page. The group's tracker, however, has been criticised for being different from the FBI's definition of mass shooting, which states three or more people have to be killed by a gun. In August alone, the group counted 32 mass shootings across 19 states.

According to the Washington Post, the community's broader definition is objected by some gun rights advocates, including John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center. Lott said the group's definition of mass shootings includes many gang killings and domestic disputes that typically are not considered mass shootings.

The group aims to push back at advocates like Lott and members of the NRA, it states on its group page. "Maintaining a list like this also punches a hole in the NRA argument that if mass shootings are televised, more mass shootings will occur via copycats," it writes.

"In fact, many of these shootings do not receive more than a day's worth of local coverage. Yet mass shootings continue to occur anyway. We actually think mass shootings should receive more publicity, not less." The shooting of the two journalists in Virginia, however, took televised shootings to a different level, when the shooter decided to post the video of the shooting on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.