The Star’s view

America will do nothing . . . and this will keep happening,

Is it possible to be less than shocked about an event in which more than 50 people are violently killed?

Sadly, when it comes to the United States and guns, the answer must be yes.

The only difference between the mass killing at a country music concert in Las Vegas and scores of other similar events is the death toll — at least 58 as of Monday afternoon, with hundreds more wounded.

News organizations rushed to label it the “deadliest mass killing in modern U.S. history,” but the harsh reality is that events of this basic type are depressingly commonplace. By one authoritative estimate there have been more than 270 mass shootings (defined as four or more people being shot or killed in the same general time and location) so far this year alone across the U.S.

Even events in which the death toll gets well into double-digits by now border almost on the routine. Sound the roll-call: Pulse nightclub (June 2016) — 49 dead. Virginia Tech (April 2007) — 32 dead. Sandy Hook (December 2012) — 27 dead. And on and on . . .

The causes and potential cures are equally well known. After every incident, and no doubt this will be no exception, the same arguments are trotted out in favour of and against gun control. Then the politicians do nothing.

On Monday, the New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof pointed out some overly familiar facts about the toll of firearms in the United States. More Americans have died from gunfire since 1970, he noted, than have died in “all the wars in American history, back to the American Revolution.” Every day, 92 Americans on average die from guns.

Every other comparable country has common-sense regulation of gun ownership and the types of weapons that can be obtained. All have much lower levels of gun violence.

Until American voters and their representatives draw the obvious conclusions, events like the Las Vegas tragedy will continue. Only the number of victims will change.

By one authoritative estimate, there have been 270 mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year