In the aftermath of the gun rampage at the Washington Navy Yard that killed 12 Americans just blocks from Capitol Hill, President Obama expressed dismay that “this becomes a ritual that we go through every three, four months.”

By “this” he meant not just the horrific mass shootings but the tens of thousands of other gun deaths each year — all of them with an all-too-familiar aftermath: shock, followed by words and prayers of sympathy, followed by a complete unwillingness in official Washington “to take some basic actions” to better protect the public.

The ineffectualness of Washington’s politicians was palpable after this week’s assault. The Senate had already failed miserably to approve modest new gun restrictions despite public outrage over the massacre of 20 schoolchildren and 6 educators in Connecticut last December. The tacit, cynical question now was whether 12 more victims could contribute anything new to the equation.

Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, said he had to be assured of enough votes for gun restrictions (which seems totally unlikely) before he would even try again. Steny Hoyer, the House Democratic minority whip, pointed to the recent voters’ recall of two Colorado state legislators because of their support for gun controls. “It does not bode well,” Mr. Hoyer said, for another Congressional effort to control what he called “access to weapons that can be used to kill a lot of people quickly.”