I’m stating the obvious when I say it was just horrible this weekend, like everything was frozen in time–in the worst time possible. Anyone being killed is awful, but having so many of the victims be children just makes it hurt that much more. You want to wake up from the nightmare and see those classrooms full of excited faces with their whole lives ahead of them. You want to ask them questions that are a little beyond their reach just so they can confidently give you answers that are ridiculous and far better than the truth.

As I suggested in the wake of the Colorado shootings, assault weapons should be banned (even if it’s impossible to get rid of many of them). There have always been damaged people among us who want to wreak havoc, but they never really had access to an arsenal that’s been available since President Bush allowed the assault weapons ban to expire. In the decade since, a demand for extreme weapons has gone viral in America, a militia mentality has set in. And all of the media outlets and demagogues who’ve stoked anti-government conspiracies have had a hand in the stockpiling.

As I wrote recently, I don’t think a ban on handguns will be any more effective than our war on drugs. (And with 3-D printers in the offing, such basic weapons will be pretty much available on demand.) But the very disturbed among us seem drawn to mass violence, to the shocking crime, so perhaps a diminishing of assault weapons will have some effect.

This is an issue that President Obama wanted to avoid. His priorities were elsewhere. But he’ll certainly support a bill limiting assault weapons now. And one is definitely coming, whether it will get past Congress or not.•