It was Joe Stalin who reputedly observed that while one death is a tragedy, a million are just a statistic. And it is we Americans who love proving the cynical old commie wrong.
Thousands of us, separately and individually and divided by blocks or miles, are slaughtered each year by criminal gun-owners. Tragedies? Hardly. We think nothing of these statistics; indeed we even refer to victims of everyday violence as those who've become a "statistic," and we advise our children on how to avoid becoming a "statistic" themselves.
What perks us up is when a psychotic gun-owner in a twinkling empties his little pellets of constitutional freedom into a crowd, usually killing several and injuring many more. Not that's a tragedy. Film and analysis at 11:00! ... and 11:01 ... and 11:02 ... and ... till next time, coming soon.
Sorry, Uncle Joe. We've got you dead to rights on this one. The more the merrier.