America’s educational institutions have seen a wave of gun violence in the past week, with shootings on four campuses across the country. Ten students, including a 15 year old boy, were shot dead and 17 were wounded in schools and colleges across the US.

The fourth tragedy occurred on 14 February at Northern Illinois University (NIU), where a former student murdered five young people before shooting himself.

IANSA activist Mhari Goldstein, who graduated from NIU in 2007, was profoundly shaken: 'We said never again after Columbine. We said never again after Virginia Tech. Yet here we are devastated. Again.'

It appears the four guns used in the massacre were purchased legally. The killer bought two of them, a Remington 12 gauge shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun, six days before the shooting from a gun dealer in another Illinois town.

Research by IANSA reveals that at least 278 children and 267 adults have been killed in school and campus shootings around the world since 1996.

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, an IANSA member in Washington DC, issued a joint statement with other organisations demanding changes to some of the most extreme aspects of the current US gun laws.