The shooting in Connecticut is truly incomprehensible. There are no words to describe it.

At risk of blogosphere and Twitter backlash, I’m posting a response to this massacre. If no one reads, that’s perfectly okay. It’s more cathartic than anything else. Once the initial despair subsides, anger takes over. Writing about it helps.

But first, some numbers:

• There have been SEVEN shootings this year alone
• Half of the deadliest shootings in American history have occurred in the past five years
• There were 5,740 kids killed by guns in 2008 and 2009. That’s eight per day. (PDF)
• There have been 31 U.S. school shootings since Columbine. In the rest of the world, there have only been 14 combined

We are not the greatest nation in the world until we fix this.

The best way to honor the victims is to talk about gun control. Jay Carney and the White House may not think today’s the day to talk about it. Maybe they’re right. Maybe it’s tomorrow or the day after. But the day is very very soon. We cannot push this off.

It’s unthinkable that the .223 caliber assault rifle the shooter used is legal:

There is not a single reason why anyone needs to own one of these. Period. It’s not an argument. It’s a fact. It’s about time we ban all assault weapons. No one has any reason to own one of those.

As for those arguments that an assault weapon ban won’t do much, I think that’s ridiculous. It’s not going to prevent all shootings. It’s not going to prevent most shootings. But it’s a signal that enough is enough. America will not sit around and allow these depraved tragedies to occur without a response. The NRA will not hold our Congress hostage.

The time for action was yesterday. The time for a response is now.

If you feel as helpless as me and want to do something about it, head over to the Brady Center and make a donation. It’s not much, but it’s something.  (Image via)