NEW YORK -- In the first four days of 2022, 398 people in the United States were already killed in gun violence, with 277 wounded, according to the data updated on Tuesday by the Gun Violence Archive, an online archive tracking such incidents in the country since 2013.

The country has seen nine mass shootings - with at least four victims in one incident - since the beginning of 2022.

In 2021, the United States saw a record high of 691 mass shootings as gun violence surged within the year.

Gun violence in the United States has been a chronic social problem that seems to have no solution. Estimates from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed that 17 million guns were sold from January through November of 2021, the second-highest number since 2000.

A national firearms survey found that about one-third - roughly 81.4 million - of U.S. adults own a gun, the most heavily armed citizenry in the world.