How many dead children will it take? If not 20, how about 100? A thousand? Perhaps the NRA and the gun lobby it serves would be kind enough to provide us with a cumulative number that would finally justify even the most modest of restrictions on an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle with a 30x laser-sighted scope and high-velocity armor-piercing rounds. (Easily converted to fully automatic with only a nail file and a screwdriver, wink, wink: It seems my vitamin C must be tamper-resistant but not an assault weapon.)

Or how about modest limits on high-capacity handgun clips that allow for the firing of dozens upon dozens of rounds without the tactical inconvenience of reloading?

After all, what red-blooded American could possibly think that such weapons are a bigger danger to our society than are the restrictions that we might place on their availability?

Well, I do. I am a gun owner. And obtaining a gun--any gun--is too damn easy in America.