In the aftermath of the horrendous shooting that took 12 lives in a suburban Denver movie theater early yesterday, President Obama and Mitt Romney suspended their campaigns. They spoke similar words of consolation. There were solemn calls for prayer. Flags will be flown at half-staff.



You would have thought a hurricane or some other force of nature outside anyone's control had upended the lives of those young people, who simply wanted to see the latest Batman movie. And all we can do is pray that we're not in the wrong place at the wrong time, the next time someone opens fire.

Because we all know there will be a next time.



Thank God for Mike Bloomberg. New York City's billionaire mayor is having none of the sob sister stuff. He's mad as hell.

"You know, soothing words are nice," Bloomberg said on his weekly radio program, "but maybe it's time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country."

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“This” happens to be guns. James Holmes, the alleged gunman, reportedly used an assault rifle. Bloomberg wants us to hold Obama and Romney accountable on gun control: “We have a right to hear from both of them concretely, not just in generalities — specifically, what are they going to do about guns?”

Mitt Romney signed a ban on assault weapons when he was governor of Massachusetts but — what a surprise — he has since changed his mind. Obama once spoke about a federal ban on assault weapons. But that has not been top of his agenda, since he was heard dissing people who cling to their guns and the Bible four years ago.

Both candidates are likely concerned about the influence of the powerful NRA in swing states they desperately need to win. How they react now will be a test of their leadership.

Bloomberg, who can annoy to no end with things like his ban on Big Gulp-sized sodas, has passed with flying colors. He's dead right on this one.

It’s about the guns.