Let’s not be sanctimonious about the US shooting epidemic

IN the wake of the latest tragic mass shooting incident in the United States, several of our readers and even a few of our own colleagues have noted, with evident relief, that this horrifying and peculiarly American epidemic is at least not something we experience here in the Philippines.

The extent of the problem in the US is astounding. According to widely circulated statistics, “mass shootings,” if defined as incidents in which four or more people are wounded or killed by gunfire, have occurred at least 355 times this year in the US, or about once a day. Sometimes, they happen more often than that: On Wednesday (Thursday here in Manila), the same day the tragic shooting in San Bernardino, California claimed 14 lives and wounded at least 21 others, there was another shooting in Savannah, Georgia that killed one person and wounded three more.