The US has now had 199 mass shootings - in the first 145 days of 2022

While many countries go months or years without a single mass-shooting tragedy, the US has now endured almost 200 - in the first five months of 2022.

The shocking and bleak statistic was widely shared on social media in the wake of a deadly attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas - which left at least 19 children, and two adults, dead.

The gunman - now dead - has been named as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos.

On Twitter, people struggled to come to terms with the scale of death and destruction wreaked by gun-toting killers in the US - where gun control is a hot-button political issue.

One woman called Aparna wrote: "199mass shootings so far this year. That’s an average of 10 shootings every single week. Cue the empty posturing and hollow condolences from the powers that be. Sickening."

James Shepard added: "There have been 199 mass shootings in the US in 2022. There have been 27 school shootings. There have only been 144 days this year. My heart is broken for so many people that I will never know. Enough is enough."

A visibly emotional Joe Biden spoke to the nation afterwardsGetty Images

Others called it an epidemic in its own right. Stephen Froude wrote: "199 mass shootings in America already this year with just over 19 weeks into the year. Which averages to about 10 attacks a week... now tell me there isn’t an epidemic of gun violence in America."

Texas governor Greg Abbott said Ramos “horrifically and incomprehensibly” carried out the mass shooting alone before being shot dead by law enforcement.

A visibly emotional President Biden later told the nation it was time to “turn this pain into action” and overhaul gun laws after the massacre.

The latest mass killing comes just days after a gunman opened fire in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

The live-streamed act of evil shocked the nation. An attempt by Justin Bieber to pay tribute made the news after he showed his anger towards the crowd for not being respectful enough.

An all-too-familiar sight: a moment of silence at a ball game for a preventable tragedyGetty Images

Unsurprisingly, some of the politicians most opposed to gun control were blanketing social media with their (pointless) thoughts and prayers.

Over on Fox News, Judge Jeanine Pirro rambled on - guessing and speculating on the motivations of the shooter without any real info to go on.

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