Editorial: US gun incidents at a shocking level

WE have grown accustomed at the numbers of people killed by firearms in the United States although still shocked and disgusted by the figures. And we're hearing just a fraction of it.

It is not always about Columbines and other school massacres, as yesterday's Chicago Tribune can attest. A triple-headed byline story tells of 12 hours in the life of Chicago and some of its gun-happy citizens.

During those hours on April 19, 22 people were shot, including an 11-year-old girl who was killed by a stray bullet while she was enjoying a sleepover with friends. Shamiya Adams was doing girlie stuff at the home of her best friend when shots were heard and a bullet came through the wall and hit her in the head.

Those 12 hours also saw another fatality when a 30-year-old man was shot in the back, neck and shoulder. He was found dead in the front seat of a car.

The other 20 people suffered non-fatal injuries, although one was serious and his condition might have changed since.

The point is, all bar one of those shootings were deliberate. Someone with a gun deliberately shot at those people in an effort to kill, harm or frighten during the course of an argument, a robbery or a random attack. And that was just Chicago, Illinois. Imagine how many other shootings there are in a similar timeframe across the whole US.

So why does the National Rifle Association think this is acceptable, forever drumming out the same old mantra: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people"?

That might well be, but they are people with guns - and if they didn't have guns, their intended targets would have a better chance of escaping without injury.

If gun opponents knew the full story and had all the statistics, would that make a difference? Maybe not, but it makes us glad to live in a country with real, effective gun laws.