PD Editorial: Mass shootings in America: By the numbers

As we anguish once again about the latest in a long line of bloody massacres in America - this one in the otherwise tranquil hamlet of Roseburg, Ore. - here are some numbers to keep in mind:

33,000: Number of people in America who die of gun violence every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

3,380: Number of American civilian deaths by terrorism from 2001 to 2013. Total number of American deaths by gun violence in U.S. during same span: 406,496.

994: Number of massive shootings that have occurred since the assault at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 children and six educators dead in December 2012.

45: The number of school shootings in the U.S. in 2015.

30: The number of gun-related deaths per 1 million people in the United States.

15: The number of statements given by President Barack Obama on gun violence during his presidency.

13: The number of weapons, including an assault rifle, that the gunman at Umpqua Community College had stockpiled for Thursday’s rampage.

5: The number of gun-related deaths per 1 million people in Canada.

Zero: The number of times in this editorial we’re using the name of the gunman in Oregon. This is no precedent, and it’s not to suggest that the name can’t be found elsewhere including on other pages of this newspaper. We do so primarily because the evidence suggests the limelight is what this 26-year-old young man wanted most. “I have noticed that so many people like (the shooter who killed a TV news reporter and cameraman in Virginia last month) are alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are,” the man wrote on a blog post, according to CBS News. “A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. … Seems like the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.”

Besides, the details on the shooter are not new. Young. White male. Isolated. Preoccupied with weaponry. As President Barack Obama said on Thursday, “Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine, the conversation in the aftermath of it … We have become numb to this.”

The fact is America doesn’t remember the shooters anyway. It remembers those who were slain as well as those who did something to save a life - people such as Army veteran Chris Mintz who was shot seven times in his efforts to save students during the shooting.

Zero is also the chances, in our view, that anything will change in the nation’s political landscape before the next massive shooting - and the numbers climb some more.