Mass shootings only happen in the United States, or so we’ve been told over and over again. Of course, that’s a load of crap. They happen in plenty of other places, they’re just not the focus of the American media.

Each shooting is tragic, of course, because they all represent innocent people being killed over absolutely nothing.

But if there’s been an upside to the COVID-19 thing, it’s that we haven’t really had any mass shootings to speak of. Then again, we didn’t have any for a time before the lockdown, either. Still, anti-gun activists are convinced that we’re on the brink of more mass shootings the moment quarantine restrictions are lifted.

Apparently, Canada didn’t want to wait.

A gunman disguised as a police officer shot dead 16 people in Canada Sunday after going on a 12 hour rampage,  shooting his victims in their homes and setting fires.

It was the deadliest such attack in the country’s history. Officials said the suspected shooter, [name redacted], 51, is also dead.

Sources told CTV News that the gunman was killed by police.

Several bodies were found inside and outside one home in the small, rural town of Portapique, about 60 miles north of Halifax — what police called the first scene. A police officer was among those killed.

Bodies were also found at other locations. Authorities believe the shooter may have targeted his first victims but then began attacking randomly.

Among the dead is Royal Canadian Mounted Police member Const. Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year member of the force and a mother-of-two.

Two to three others were injured and are being treated at a local hospital, including another Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer.

The killer also appears to have worn a police uniform and may have been driving a police car for part of his deadly rampage.

Good thing this only happens in the United States.

Of course, as noted before, this isn’t isolated to the U.S. or even just western nations. They happen all over the world to varying degrees, even in places without our access to various mass media such as movies and video games. That suggests the problem is somewhat more complex than just needing gun control.

Police haven’t released a motive for the attack, though it’s unlikely we’ll find one except for possibly the first attack, which authorities believe might have been targeted.

As per usual after something like this, there are countless questions and few answers. That will continue on for quite some time, and won’t be relegated to just how the shooter got his hands on a police uniform or a car that looked like a police vehicle. There will likely be still more questions about how he got the gun he used and all that.

However, it should be noted that Canada has much more strict gun control than we do here in the United States.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Canada. The country overhauled its gun-control laws after gunman Marc Lepine killed 14 women and himself at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique college in 1989.

Before this weekend’s rampage, that had been the country’s worst.

It is now illegal to possess an unregistered handgun or any kind of rapid-fire weapon in Canada. The country also requires training, a personal risk assessment, two references, spousal notification and criminal record checks to purchase a weapon.

Well…that worked out well, now didn’t it?

All the gun control that American gun control activists want and then some, and it did nothing to stop this attack. That’s probably because the problem is far too complicated for simplistic solutions.

Canada tried to get simplistic and what good did that do for them? Jack squat, apparently.

Now, 16 people are dead and an entire nation is trying to figure out what happened.