The typical response to a mass shooting from opponents of even the most sensible gun control measures is that it's too soon to talk about what can be done about gun violence in America. We wait for a lull in vain.
In the 138 days since the largest mass shooting in this country _ the Oct. 1 massacre by a lone sniper in Las Vegas that claimed 58 lives and left 441 people wounded _ there have been at least 101 gun incidents in which four or more people were killed or injured. Those shootings left 144 people dead and 417 people wounded.
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Wednesday's horrific spree that claimed at least 17 lives at a high school in Florida marked the seventh such shooting in which people were killed or wounded at a school this year.
Since Las Vegas, the longest respite in this bloody record was six days.
We do not need to wait for every last detail of every one of these shootings to know what can be done to at least reduce gun violence. For starters, federal law should require universal background checks on every sale or transfer of a firearm, including private transactions. No exceptions. Most Americans support this idea.
Congress and President Donald Trump also must go beyond their ambiguous talk of "doing something about mental illness." Some states are already exploring "red flag" laws to allow relatives and law enforcement to petition courts to temporarily revoke a person's firearms when it can be shown that the person may be a danger. It's a way to address those situations, like the latest shooting in Florida, in which a person's behavior raises concern about their propensity for violence.
Congress should also restore and strengthen the ban on assault weapons, and on accessories like high-capacity magazines. At the very least, a permit to own an assault weapon should require a more comprehensive background check, character references, and periodic renewal.
Instead, Republicans who control Congress, anxious to avoid the wrath of the National Rifle Association, are doing everything they can to perpetuate and even escalate gun violence. That's surely not their intent, but consider: They refuse to ban "bump stocks," the device used by the Las Vegas shooter that makes a semiautomatic weapon perform like a fully automatic one. They are considering legalizing silencers, which would make it harder for children in classrooms or people at an outdoor concert to even realize a shooter was on a rampage. The House has already passed the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, effectively a federal pre-emption of laws in states like New York that regulate the carrying of concealed handguns.
Too soon to talk about this? Just how long must sickened and heartbroken Americans respect the demand of a gun industry for some vague period of mourning for those who died for the sake of unfettered sales of its deadly products? As to the gun industry's hirelings in Congress, what is their idea of a cooling-off period for a grieving nation? The days have turned to years; the bodies of too many children have grown cold.
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