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The shooting rampage at an Oregon community college occurred in the most heavily armed nation in the world, a society with a firearm for nearly 90% of its 321 million citizens.
The gunman who shot and killed nine people and injured nine others at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg on Thursday had 14 firearms, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. They were all purchased legally by the shooter or a member of his family in the past three years, officials said.
Five pistols and a rifle were found at the college, where the shooter died after a firefight with police. It’s unclear whether police shot the gunman or he turned a weapon on himself. In the killer’s apartment, authorities other weapons, including three pistols, four rifles and a shotgun.
After the massacre, a visibly shaken President Barack Obama told the nation, “There is a gun for roughly every man, woman and child in America. So how can you, with a straight face, make the argument that more guns will make us safer?”
As the nation mourns the victims of another mass shooting, the raw numbers of gun violence paint a chilling picture of America’s intimate relationship with firearms.
U.S. leads world in guns per capita
Civilians in the United States own about 270 million guns, according to a 2007 report by the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey. That’s almost the population of Indonesia, the world’s fourth most-populated country. America ranks number one in firearms per capita.
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CNN
Official: 13 weapons recovered in Oregon shooting
In the U.S., guns are used in homicides more often than in many other countries
Obama has delivered statements on gun violence 15 times during his presidency. After the latest shooting, he said the nation had become numb to the carnage.
“We know that other countries, in response to one mass shooting, have been able to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings,” he said. “Friends of ours, allies of ours – Great Britain, Australia, countries like ours. So we know there are ways to prevent it.”
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
President Barack Obama condemned the slayings of three Louisiana law enforcement officers on Sunday, July 17, as he called on the nation to condemn violence against law enforcement. "We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement," Obama said, speaking from the White House press briefing room. "Attacks on police are an attack on all of us and the rule of law that makes society possible."
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during an interfaith memorial service for the victims of the Dallas police shooting on Tuesday, July 12. Obama sought to unify the country during the somber memorial in Dallas for the five police officers slain in a sniper ambush during what had been a peaceful protest. The incident occurred amid a tragic week for the nation that saw Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota killed during encounters with police.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden place flowers at a memorial on Thursday, June 16, for the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando. At least 49 people were killed in the massacre, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
Susan Walsh/AP
Obama pauses on October 1 during a news conference about the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
David Goldman/AP
Obama sings "Amazing Grace" during a service in June 2015 honoring the life of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a South Carolina lawmaker. Pinckney was one of nine people killed in a shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive for a memorial service in Fort Hood, Texas, in April 2014. Officials say Army Spc. Ivan Lopez took a .45-caliber handgun onto the military post, killing three people and injuring 16 before taking his own life.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Obama pauses as he speaks in September 2013 about the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, mourning what he called "yet another mass shooting" that took the life of American patriots.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Obama tours a tornado-affected area in Moore, Oklahoma, in May 2013. A tornado that ripped through Moore hit 2,400 homes on a 17-mile path.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Obama speaks at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross following the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured at least 264 in April 2013. Suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed during an encounter with police, and his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was sentenced to death.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
Obama attends a memorial service at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, in April 2013. Fourteen people, nearly all first responders, died in an explosion at the West Fertilizer Co.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
In December 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 children and six adults. At the memorial service, Obama said, "In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens -- from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators -- in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this."
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Obama walks back to the Oval Office of the White House in July 2012. Obama cut short a campaign stop in Florida in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Twelve moviegoers were killed and 70 were injured by convicted shooter James E. Holmes.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Obama speaks on the campus of Missouri Southern State University after a tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, in May 2011, killing 158 people.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
The President and first lady hold hands during a memorial service for the victims of a Tucson, Arizona, shooting. On January 8, 2011, Jared Lee Loughner shot six people and wounded 13 more, including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
An explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia killed 29 workers in April 2010. It was the worst U.S. mine disaster in 40 years. "All the hard work; all the hardship; all the time spent underground; it was all for their families. ... It was all in the hopes of something better," Obama said about the fallen workers.
Photos: Obama leads country through grief
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
Thirteen people were shot and killed by Maj. Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood in November 2009. Speaking to an estimated 15,000 people at a memorial service, Obama called the act "incomprehensible" and vowed that justice would be done.
U.S. gun violence kills significantly more people than terrorism – even factoring in 9/11
Since 2001, the harm from terrorists to Americans both here and abroad accounts for 0.8% of all American deaths by firearms in the United States in the same time period.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Joel Auerbach/AP
Parents wait for news after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday, February 14. At least 17 people were killed at the school, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said. The suspect, 19-year-old former student Nikolas Cruz, is in custody, the sheriff said. The sheriff said he was expelled for unspecified disciplinary reasons.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP
Investigators at the scene of a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, November 5, 2017. A man opened fire inside the small community church, killing at least 25 people and an unborn child. The gunman, 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, was found dead in his vehicle. He was shot in the leg and torso by an armed citizen, and he had a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, authorities said.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
David Becker/Getty Images
A couple huddles after shots rang out at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday, October 1, 2017. At least 58 people were killed and almost 500 were injured when a gunman opened fire on the crowd. Police said the gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, fired from the Mandalay Bay hotel, several hundred feet southwest of the concert grounds. He was found dead in his hotel room, and authorities believe he killed himself and that he acted alone. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
Police direct family members away from the scene of a shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016. Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire inside the club, killing at least 49 people and injuring more than 50. Police fatally shot Mateen during an operation to free hostages that officials say he was holding at the club.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP/Getty Images
In December 2015, two shooters killed 14 people and injured 21 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, where employees with the county health department were attending a holiday event. The shooters, Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik, were later killed in a shootout with authorities. The pair were found to be radicalized extremists who planned the shootings as a terror attack, investigators said.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Mike Sullivan/Roseburg News-Review/AP
Police search students outside Umpqua Community College after a deadly shooting at the school in Roseburg, Oregon, in October 2015. Nine people were killed and at least nine were injured, police said. The gunman, Chris Harper-Mercer, committed suicide after exchanging gunfire with officers, a sheriff said.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Wade Spees/The Post And Courier via AP
A man kneels across the street from the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, following a shooting in June 2015. Police say the suspect, Dylann Roof, opened fire inside the church, killing nine people. According to police, Roof confessed and told investigators he wanted to start a race war. He was eventually convicted of murder and hate crimes, and a jury recommended the death penalty.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Police officers walk on a rooftop at the Washington Navy Yard after a shooting rampage in the nation's capital in September 2013. At least 12 people and suspect Aaron Alexis were killed, according to authorities.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Shannon Hicks/Newtown Bee/Landov
Connecticut State Police evacuate Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. Adam Lanza opened fire in the school, killing 20 children and six adults before killing himself. Police said he also shot and killed his mother in her Newtown home.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
DON EMMERT/AFP/GettyImages
James Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a July 2012 shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Twelve people were killed and dozens were wounded when Holmes opened fire during the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises." He was sentenced to 12 life terms plus thousands of years in prison.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Jeramie Sivley/U.S. Army/Reuters/Landov
A military jury convicted Army Maj. Nidal Hasan of 13 counts of premeditated murder for a November 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. Thirteen people died and 32 were injured.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
Jiverly Wong shot and killed 13 people at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York, before turning the gun on himself in April 2009, police said. Four other people were injured at the immigration center shooting. Wong had been taking English classes at the center.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Dave Martin/AP
Pallbearers carry a casket of one of Michael McLendon's 10 victims. McLendon shot and killed his mother in her Kingston, Alabama, home, before shooting his aunt, uncle, grandparents and five more people. He shot and killed himself in Samson, Alabama, in March 2009.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Brendan Bush/Reuters/Landov
Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting spree on the school's campus in April 2007. Cho killed two people at the West Ambler Johnston dormitory and, after chaining the doors closed, killed another 30 at Norris Hall, home to the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department. He wounded an additional 17 people before killing himself.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
STEVE SCHAEFER/AFP/Getty Images
Mark Barton walked into two Atlanta trading firms and fired shots in July 1999, leaving nine dead and 13 wounded, police said. Hours later, police found Barton at a gas station in Acworth, Georgia, where he pulled a gun and killed himself. The day before, Barton had bludgeoned his wife and his two children in their Stockbridge, Georgia, apartment, police said.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Kevin Moloney/Getty Images
Eric Harris, left, and Dylan Klebold brought guns and bombs to Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in April 1999. The students gunned down 13 and wounded 23 before killing themselves.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Gaylon Wampler/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
In October 1991, George Hennard crashed his pickup through the plate-glass window of Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, before shooting 23 people and committing suicide.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
U-T San Diego/ZUMAPRESS.com
James Huberty shot and killed 21 people, including children, at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, California, in July 1984. A police sharpshooter killed Huberty an hour after the rampage began.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Clark Van Orden/Times Leader/AP
Prison guard George Banks is led through the Luzerne County courthouse in 1985. Banks killed 13 people, including five of his children, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in September 1982. He was sentenced to death in 1993 and received a stay of execution in 2004. His death sentence was overturned in 2010.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
AP
Officers in Austin, Texas, carry victims across the University of Texas campus after Charles Joseph Whitman opened fire from the school's tower, killing 16 people and wounding 30 in 1966. Police officers shot and killed Whitman, who had killed his mother and wife earlier in the day.
Photos: Worst mass shootings in the United States
Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images
Howard Unruh, a World War II veteran, shot and killed 13 of his neighbors in Camden, New Jersey, in 1949. Unruh barricaded himself in his house after the shooting. Police overpowered him the next day. He was ruled criminally insane and committed to a state mental institution.
This happens year after year
The latest tragedy occurred on the picturesque campus of a community college in Oregon. Mass shootings seem to have become part of life in the United States. The numbers continue to grow.
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CNN
Army veteran to UCC shooter: 'You aren't getting by me'
Guns are America’s weapon of choice
Nearly 70% of homicides were committed with firearms from 2007 to 2011, according to the U.S. Justice Department. Firearms were used in roughly 26% of robberies and 31% of aggravated assaults, according to the Small Arms Survey.
Firearm deaths among leading causes of death
Gun deaths – 33, 636 – pale in comparison to the nation’s leading killer, heart disease, which claimed 611,105 lives in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But, as the graph shows, guns took more lives than other top causes of death, such as hypertension (30,770) and Parkinson’s disease (25,196).
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CNN
Sheriff responds to controversy over Facebook post