NRA: US Still Trails Syria, Afghanistan in Mass Shootings

Responding to a strong backlash against the gun industry and its political advocates in the wake of the Parkland massacre last week, the National Rifle Association pointed out today that the United States actually trails several other countries in mass shootings.

"Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria - all of these countries have more multiple-casualty gun violence than the US," NRA spokesman Hugo Fontaine noted. "Somalia, Chechnya and the disputed region of Kashmir each also have more," he said.

"A lot more in some cases," Fontaine added.

Ranking just ahead of Iraq, Sudan and Guatemala for gunfire-related deaths of civilians, the US would be much more violent if it restricted access to firearms, Fontaine argued.

"People overlook the relatively low number of suicide bombings in this country compared to places like Pakistan or Yemen, for example," he said. "You start taking these people's guns away, they're just going to resort to explosives, and that's when your fatality rates really jump."

Indeed, according to statistics compiled by the International Counterterrorism Database, the suicide bombing rate in the United States' ranks just 33rd globally.

Also, as of press time, the US has dropped to eighth behind the Western Pacific island nation of Palau in mass shooting deaths per capita after a man there shot 3 people at a flea market this morning.