Columbine; Virginia Tech; Fort Hood; Lakewood, Wash.; Tuscon; Oikos University in Oakland; Aurora, Colo; Oak Creek, Wisc.; Clackamas Town Center Mall near Portland; and, now, Newtown, Conn. These are but a few of the places that have become synonymous with grotesque gun violence since 1999. There are many more.
Before these selected examples there was Austin, 101 California and Stockton, among many, many other nightmares.
After each tragedy the reaction has been predictably similar. Shock, horror, anguish, grief. Those emotions are quickly followed by a rhetorical screaming match. Anti-gun advocates call for many and varied changes in gun laws at both the state and national levels. Of course, the National Rifle Association and others point out that we already have many gun laws that are not enforced, that guns don't kill people -- people do, and that law-abiding citizens should not have their