2022 could be the second-highest year for mass shootings in the US but is the first time it’s been seen in a single month.
“The rate of gun violence is the highest it’s been since 1968, and in that year, we had 22 mass shootings,” she told CNN.
The number of guns used in such shootings has also increased, with the numbers of assaults, killings and mass shootings on this year’s list up by a third of those in 2008, according to the FBI.
The number of murders carried out using guns in the US has jumped nearly 30% in the past decade, according to the Violence Policy Center. Another 29% of murder victims have been shot in the head, body or arm.
The mass shootings began in Chicago in the mid-1990s, and by the time Mr Obama became president, there were three such episodes in just over a decade, compared with 24 in his first year in office.
CNN’s Chris Lawrence reports
‘Frightening trend’
The number of mass shootings has been declining in recent years, with the latest episode in September 2016.
But there has been a surge in the past month, with four shooting incidents since the beginning of July.
Experts say the rise shows the US is not immune to such incidents after what happened in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday, where 58 people died.
“It seems to be a frightening trend,” David Campbell, a former FBI agent who is a CNN legal analyst, told CNN.
“There are a lot of guns out there, and more being manufactured, and more in more places.”
Gun policy and mental health: What you need to know
A surge in mass shootings
The shootings in Chicago, which began in 1993, peaked in 2004, and saw the highest number of victims killed since then.
This year’s shooting in Las Vegas, which claimed 59 lives, was the deadliest involving a mass shooting in the US since the 2013 massacre in Aurora, Colorado, which left 12 dead.
By July, the most recent month for data, there were five mass shootings, bringing the total number of incidents since the start of the year to seven.
CNN’s special report, which it is hoped will act as a wake-up call for Americans, is being aired on CNN International on Monday – the day before the national election