I was born and raised in the United States, then moved to Italy in 2009, when I was in my early 40s. In the 12 years since, there have been 246 mass shootings in the U.S. (as of March 26, 2021 and defining a mass shooting as an event where four or more people, not including the shooter, were shot and killed).

A total of 1,401 people lost their lives, and close to 1,000 people were shot and wounded. In Italy, during that same 12-year period, there was one attempted mass shooting—a racially motivated drive-by incident that targeted a group of six African immigrants in 2018. It was terrible for sure, but fortunately, there were no fatalities.