Letter to the editor: List of mass shootings grows

Now we add Boulder. Space does not permit an exhaustive litany but in no particular order — Columbine, Aurora, Las Vegas, El Paso, Orlando, Virginia Tech, Stoneman Douglas, the Pittsburgh synagogue and Sandy Hook come quickly, sadly to mind. Recently we had Atlanta. In each shameful event, there is terror, there is pain, there is death, and there is mourning. Makeshift memorials appear; families and friends grieve for loved ones lost. Survivors are guilt ridden. Nonstop media coverage abounds. Ministers, priests and rabbis lament. Politicians weep.

And Second Amendment ideologues claim one or more military assault weapons in the hands of every patriot is necessary to prevent tyranny. Would those ideologues please show us how many lives have been saved by semiautomatic weapons in comparison to the hundreds we have lost in mass shootings? Ah, but not to worry for the West Virginia Legislature, in its wisdom, may soon ensure public safety by making it harder for others to limit firearm sales while allowing still more guns, even if concealed, in schools and universities. Soon we can expect the bad guys to be stopped in their tracks on West Virginia campuses. Surely, Huntington, Charleston, Morgantown and other West Virginia sites will never then be added to our national litany of shame and tragedy. Or will they?