The Never-Ending Story

Forty-nine days. What would a reasonable number of mass shootings be for that time period? If you're thinking zero, then we agree. Any other number of mass shootings in America, a country which is not currently experiencing heavy casualties other than at our own hands, is unacceptable. And yet, here we are again, with that same tape loop that drones on about the victims and the shooter and we all become numb to the noise that is dangerously close to becoming background.
Parkland, Florida joins the list of cities and towns that have experienced a school shooting, a mass shooting, a murder that expresses once again just how important the Second Amendment is to us as a nation. That right to bear arms is so fiercely protected that we cannot protect children at school.
Oops. Sorry. I keep forgetting that now is not the time for debate or discussion. Now is the time for thoughts and prayers. The challenge being that we seem to be in that same never-ending loop of excuses that we are in prayer. While we wait for a time to become available on that discussion calendar, we are told our best bet is to load up and get ready to defend ourselves. Gun free zones? What are those? In a country that has a gun for every man, woman and child, it seems that creating such a place would be on a par with finding a Starbucks-free zone. 
Seventeen more family portraits torn apart. Dozens more will have a hole where that person never had a chance to grow up and be a part of a solution. To anything. We wring our hands and wish that it were different while the carnage continues. Here is a sample of the conversation we are allowed to have: "I know he had his own problems, but I never thought he would be capable of this. I stopped seeing him before his mom passed away because I ended up moving, but we would still contact each other every other day. I did know he really did like guns a lot, but I didn’t think he would cause such tragedy." 
This kind of surprise has become tired and less than surprising. There is a very tired meme out there about Insanity: It is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Point the gun, pull the trigger. The results are the same. Over and over. It would be amazing if the deaths could take a holiday while we have a discussion about assault rifles and background checks and bump stocks. In case that window is very brief, here are my answers: No, yes and no. In that order, please.