Perhaps the country can be grateful that “only” one four-year-old boy from Mandaluyong City in Metro Manila was killed by a stray bullet at the height of the New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day celebrations which ended yesterday.

But that one needless fatality is still one death too many. Imagine how the boy’s relatives must feel. He had been allowed to go outside their home in the belief that he was safe in the company of relatives, neighbors, and friends.

Hopefully, the Philippine National Police (PNP) can track down the fool who fired a gun in the air, not realizing that the law of gravity is absolute. What goes up must come down, and when it is a bullet that comes streaking back down to earth, pity the person who just happens to be in its path.

The unnamed boy was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and his death will be marked as just another tragedy that came with the way Filipinos traditionally celebrate the entry of a new year.

Firecrackers are bad enough, but there is no sane reason for any person to discharge his or her firearm as a form of celebration. The very act itself is an invitation to an injury or worse. At around midnight of every December 31, Filipinos take to the streets to send out the old year and to welcome the new. The young and the old, the rich and the poor, all head for the outdoors to witness or take part in the fireworks displays.

It is in these few moments that millions will disregard the health risks posed by the smog that is left behind following the explosions of gunpowder.

Besides the single fatality, several hundreds were also hurt, mostly as a result of firecrackers that exploded in their hands or other parts of their bodies. The injury statistics range from a low of 200 to a high of 400, but no one would be surprised to find out that the numbers could be much higher, given the slight injuries that are remedied at home and which largely go unreported.

In one instance, a teenager had to have his hand amputated after he picked up a seemingly unexploded firecracker.

He and all the others who suffered lesser but still painful injuries should have learned a lesson. Year in and year out, authorities warn of the dangers of handling unexploded firecrackers. Too bad it took the loss of a hand, or the loss of fingers in many other cases, before the warning seeps in. It’s a safe bet that those who were injured this time will be more careful next year.

Meanwhile, we remain puzzled why the PNP can’t seem to put a stop to the manufacture and sale of unsafe firecrackers, most of which are based in a handful of towns in Bulacan province.

It may be a cottage industry, but it is an illegal cottage industry. It is the job of the PNP to put a stop to the dangerous trade. Maybe this year, they’ll try harder and there will be no fatalities when 2014 comes in.