Another week, another shooting.
More dead. More children dead.
The same tired words out of Washington, D.C., followed by the same inaction, the same excuse that it's “too soon” to talk about possible remedies for this extended run of senseless tragedies, that all the facts of the latest incident aren't known.
Well, the facts are that on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, Valentine's Day, a teenager used a legally-acquired AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 students and faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
So many school shootings just this year that it's hard to keep count. One group claims Wednesday's tragic event in Parkland, Florida, was the 18th such shooting so far in 2018, a total that The Washington Post, which has been doing extensive research in this area, disputed.
There have only been seven, the Post reported.
ONLY seven? That's one a week!
Again according to The Washington Post, since 2000 there have been 188 school shootings, from elementaries to universities; some 130 elementary, middle school and high school students have been killed and more than 250 wounded.
What in God's name can the tipping point be in order for Congress to act?
Obviously, if it hasn't been reached by now then it most likely never will be. So we have to realize that we can't wait on Congress, that Congress doesn't lead, it follows.
If we're to staunch the flow of blood and tears, we'll have to do it on our own, we'll all have to shoulder some of the load, to agree to disagree for the sake of a better and safer future.
We must curb the exuberances of our differences in pursuit of a greater cause.
We don't believe “rounding up all the guns” is the answer, simply because that would be an impossible task counting just the number of “legal” guns currently in circulation.
Of course, it is true that the more guns there are in circulation the greater the likelihood that some of those weapons might end up in the wrong hands — of criminals, terrorists, even of teenagers with mental-health problems and some kind of score to settle.
Putting more guns into circulation would only increase the odds in favor of more shootings.
We hope that the “gun lobby” (for lack of a better phrase) will take some responsibility and regulate itself, will realize that we can't go on as we are, averaging a school shooting a week.
Despite what some want to believe, the blame doesn't rest with the gun lobby alone.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin is onto something about the influence of violent video games, movies and television shows in these shootings. Exposure to such violent media can in some people cause an emotional callousness leading to a desensitization of their actions.
We're about as big a First Amendment supporter as there is, steadfastly opposed to government regulation of speech, in all it's myriad varieties, including what some consider to be entertainment but leaves us scratching our head in bewilderment and with our stomach turning.
We no more understand the appeal of watching this simulated violence than we do the need for owning a semi-automatic rifle.
But we're against government regulation of either.
There has to be some industry responsibility, some self-awareness of what's too much, some understanding of the difference between the right to explicit displays of violence and whether the exercise of that right is indeed in the best interest of the community.
In terms of culpability, there's little difference between he who sells an AK-15 to someone of questionable mental health and he who produces the most-gruesomely violent video game without regard for its possible affect on some viewer of questionable mental health.
There is cause enough for both to change their ways.