Barack Obama
Barack ObamaReuters

In response to a spate of deadly shootings across the United States in recent days, President Barack Obama noted that gun violence is a far more drastic problem in the US than Israel. 

On Saturday evening, Obama tweeted: "Here are the stats: Per population, we kill each other with guns at a rate 297x more than Japan, 49x more than France, 33x more than Israel."

Obama was no doubt responding to the spate of violence that has rocked the US in the past three days, beginning with the deadly massacre at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. 

Nine people were killed when Dylann Roof opened fire during an evening prayer service on Wednesday night. 

Meanwhile, on Saturday 11 people were shot, and one killed, in two separate shootings in Detroit, Michigan. Ten were shot during a block party at a basketball court and another during a holdup at a gas station. 

A shooting occurred at a block party in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Saturday evening as well; seven people were critically injured. 

Without providing a concrete plan, Obama commented on his own tweet that "expressions of sympathy aren’t enough. It’s time we do something about this."