There have been 71 mass shootings in the US this year — in just 6 weeks

Three students were shot to death and five critically injured before the gunman took his own life Monday at Michigan State University in East Lansing — it was the first mass shooting at a U.S. school this calendar year.

Nationwide, there have been a total of 71 mass shootings year-to-date.

"There's not been any year that we've had 67 in six weeks" this early in the year, said Mark Bryant, executive director of the Gun Violence Archive, on Tuesday morning. By Tuesday evening, the number of mass shootings reported and verified by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit formed in 2013 to track gun violence in the U.S., increased to 71.

One of the latest shootings took place outside of Westinghouse Academy in Pittsburgh on Tuesday afternoon. Four juveniles were injured, according to the Pittsburgh police department — marking the second mass shooting at a school in 2023.

There's no single consensus on the definition of a mass shooting. The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as an incident where four or more people are injured or killed by gunfire, not including the suspect.

More:From East Lansing to metro Detroit and beyond, Michiganders gather to mourn

In 2021, after the return to in-person classes, school shootings rebounded. Nationwide, there were 90 school shootings at K-12 schools and on college campuses with at least one injury or fatality from a firearm. Four of those incidents were mass shootings, including the shooting on Nov. 30 at Oxford High School in Oakland County, Michigan.

Last year, the number of school shootings and people killed or injured during those incidents hit a record high — 132 incidents, according to Gun Violence Archive data. Seventy-four people died and 190 were injured by firearms at schools across the country. A dozen of the incidents were mass shootings, including the deadliest school shooting in a decade at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 22 people were killed, including the shooter, and 17 were injured.

More:Michigan State shooting victim Arielle Anderson wanted to become a doctor

More:Michigan State shooting victim Alexandria Verner was all-state athlete, leader

More:Michigan State shooting victim Brian Fraser remembered as a leader in community

More recent incidents include a Jan. 6 shooting after a high school basketball game at Oak Park High School in Oak Park, Michigan where one student was injured by gunfire. And on Monday, a 15-year-old student at Dalhart High School in Dalhart, Texas, died after a firearm accidentally discharged inside a vehicle in the high school's parking lot.

Contact Kristi Tanner: ktanner@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @midatalove. Become a subscriber.