Alanabit, the only possible way to confront the gun lobby would be to take it on at a moment like this, albeit with the risk of rushing into bad law, as with the Dunblane aftermath. If the will is not there now, it never will be.

A bistro owner near the school, interviewed soon after the shootings, suggested that one answer might be to arm the teachers. It reminded me of my years in Belfast during the troubles. I often heard people in England saying that the best solution would be to give all the Irish people guns so they could kill each other more quickly. Certainly death tolls are likely to remain at modest levels without an increase in classroom gunfights.

As the bistro owner did concede, anyone can go off the rails, even a teacher. I'm with Eliza: the weaponry so widely available is a direct factor in the death tolls. Would a six-shooter not be enough to fulfil the right to bear arms?

To the rest of the world, the present state of affairs in America is insanity on wheels.