STAFF EDITORIAL: America's fatal obsession

The most recent in a long line of school shootings reminds us that existing laws don't do a thing to control guns. She died a half-hour later. We don't know why this particular shooting happened. But more importantly, we don't know why we continue to let shootings happen, time and time again. Gun violence continues to plague this nation and no one is doing anything about it. It was not supposed to be this way. In 1997 and 1998, in the midst of a series of school shootings, pundits and politicians all struggled to be the loudest among the voices proposing gun control legislation. But nothing happened. And so, last year, we watched in horror as a white supremacist went on a killing spree through the Midwest; as a bigot opened fire on a Jewish day care center in Los Angeles; as a disgruntled copy repairman in Hawaii killed seven of his co-workers; and as a distraught day trader in Atlanta killed his family and turned an office complex into a war zone. And then there was Columbine, one of the most profound tragedies our generation has known. The outcry against the proliferation of guns grew louder than ever. And still, nothing was done to prevent children from buying guns on the street and carrying them onto the playground. Instead, excuses were made. The violence was blamed on almost anything but the weapons themselves. Suddenly, it was no longer about the guns, but about the media, about video games, about the petty teenage social hierarchies found in every high school across the country. And instead of legislation to protect teenagers from guns, we got useless legislation to protect teenagers from the media, legislation to protect teenagers from video games, legislation to protect teenagers from their peers. Those who blindly claim that people kill people and guns do not have not been touched by these tragedies. How can they fail to see that without a gun, a disturbed 6-year-old would never have had the chance to take a little girl's life? It's time for Congress to target the real culprits in this tragedy -- the guns themselves. We have gone too long in this country with gun control laws that have no chance of controlling guns. Those with the power to effect change cannot continue to allow their consciences to be purchased by political lobbies or swayed by partisan interests. There are simply too many 6-year-olds whose lives are at stake.