Hillary Clinton, last night: “I know there is a way to have sensible gun control measures that help prevent violence, prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands and save lives. And I am committed to doing everything I can to achieve that.”

Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders Tweeted:

Tweets won't stop this. Thoughts and prayers won't, either. Only real gun reforms will stop mass shootings from occurring nearly every day. — Martin O'Malley (@MartinOMalley) October 1, 2015

We need sensible gun-control legislation which prevents guns from being used by people who should not have them. — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 1, 2015

Let’s hope the moderator at the first Democratic presidential debate, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, takes a page from Charlie Cooke and asks Clinton, O’Malley and Sanders to explain what they see as “sensible gun control measures” or what “real gun reforms” are.



In all likelihood, they’ll mention re-instituting the “assault weapons ban,” even thought the guns used in yesterday’s shooting weren’t banned under the ban, or the “gun show loophole,” even though mass shooters almost never purchase their guns at gun shows.

What we will probably get is a lot of “we have to do something!” and “we can’t just sit back and wait for the next shooting” lectern-pounding.

Ideally, someone on that debate stage would emulate President Obama and say America needs something like Australia’s policy of nationwide gun confiscation. I think the Republican nominee would love for the 2016 election to be a referendum on whether private citizens should be permitted to own guns, or whether Americans support a nationwide house-to-house, room-to-room search of every residence in all fifty states.