× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

When will enough be enough?

What, it must be asked, is the magic number that will force voters and lawmakers to realize that finally one too many people have died at the hands of a gunman; one passerby on a street corner, one too many theater-goers or, much closer to home, one too many kids at school?

The senseless gun violence tearing at this nation has to end. This is not from someone who views guns — the hardware itself — as intrinsically evil.

That evil — and it is collective — consists of those individuals with access to a gun, who might be mentally disturbed or otherwise, eager to harm someone, anyone, even themselves.

And yes, it has its echoes in wacky notions that tend to mesmerize certain members of the public and a frightening number of politicians to wallow in near-paranoid delusions, fear of the National Rifle Association, and wave the Second Amendment around like a revised Declaration of Independence with no thought to this nation’s future.