There Are So Many Mass Shootings in the U.S. Now That Some Witnesses Are 'Veterans'
There have been over 300 reported shootings in the U.S. in 2015 so far—so many so that some witnesses have been present for more than one.
On Friday, the number grew once again, when 57-year-old Robert Lewis Dear brought a gun inside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing three people.
The New York Times’ story on the incident contained one detail perhaps more disturbing than any. The last paragraph, which talks about a witness who had also seen another shooting just weeks before, is heartbreaking.
People poured out. Among them was Ms. Schilter, the woman at the grocery store. Her boyfriend, Jackson Ricker, 18, placed his arms around her waist and his chin on her shoulder and noted that Ms. Schilter had witnessed a different shooting a few weeks earlier when a heavily armed man shot and killed a bicyclist and two women in the downtown. “The first time she cried,” said Mr. Ricker, looking at his dry-eyed girlfriend. “She’s a veteran now.”
According to statistics reported in The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. represents less than 5 percent of the global population, but from 1966 to 2012, the country accounted for 31 percent of mass shooting incidents. Also worth noting: the U.S. ranks first in the world for gun ownership per person.
