Only a federal ban on military style weapons and high-capacity cartridges will work. The Gilroy gunman Newport 100s Box couldn't legally acquire his firearm in California. So he simply crossed the border into Nevada.
►A sensible first step is a federal minimum age of 21 for the purchase and possession of high-velocity rifles. President Donald Trump is in favor. Such an age restriction exists for alcohol. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell believes it is necessary for the purchase of tobacco. So why not for the favorite weapon of mass shootings?
Many will be quick to blame much of this violence on Trump's amped up, nativist take-down of migrants, Cheap Newport 100s cigarettes minority neighborhoods and people of color serving in Congress. Certainly along a spectrum of those harboring dark thoughts on race who feel validated by such rhetoric, and who find and incite each other online, there lurk some prone to violence.
Trump has a moral duty as a leader to denounce white supremacist violence and tamp down his rhetoric. His comment Sunday afternoon that "hate has no place in our country" was a start, but made no mention of guns and white nationalism and was far short of what's needed.
Police, after all, are investigating whether the alleged El Paso shooter, a white man, posted online a racist, anti-immigrant screed that echoed some of Trump's language. The same online site was used for an anti-Semitic rant by a white man who shot up a California synagogue in April. And FBI Director Christopher Wray said last month that most suspects arrested in recent domestic terrorism are motivated by white supremacy.
Ultimately, it is the nexus of deranged individuals and America's love affair with guns that lies at the heart Newport box 100s menthol cigarettes of this crisis. The U.S. is no more naturally violent, racially divided or mentally ill than other nations. It simply has more guns. Five percent of the world's population owns.