Editorial: We must elect leaders willing to adopt reasonable gun laws

We didn't even get a day.

Wednesday was the 10th anniversary of the rampage at Northern Illinois University, where on Feb. 14, 2008 a gunman with a 12-gauge Remington Sportsman 48 shotgun and three handguns killed five students and wounded 17 others inside Cole Hall.

Now, 10 years later, we had the right to remember them and honor their memories or their fortitude in recovery, whether we were in DeKalb for a ceremony or in our living rooms.

But we didn't get the chance, before another 17 students were dead, this time at a Florida high school.

Another mass shooting, another semi-automatic weapon.

Police in Parkland, Florida say the attack was carried out with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle, the same style of weapon used in Las Vegas, Newtown, Connecticut, Aurora, Colorado and Sutherland Springs, Texas, among other sites of national carnage.

The National Rifle Association says the AR-15 is the most popular rifle in America - it is easy to fire with less recoil and the bullets are projected twice as fast as from most handguns. Its makers say it is an excellent sporting rifle; detractors say the only thing it's really good for is killing other humans.

It is tempting to give up. Those of us whose despair grows deeper with every child killed in a school, or concertgoer or moviegoer killed in an amphitheater or theater, can be forgiven for thinking this battle is lost. That the money that holds our politicians in thrall cannot be defeated. That the cry of "enough!" rings hollow because it doesn't matter how many more are killed, nothing will ever change.

We say, it is not time to give up. It is time to act. If common sense solutions cannot - or will not - be found in Washington or Springfield, then the change must come from us.

Our only recourse is to elect the kind of people who will not be beholden to the NRA or other special interests, and who vote of their own free accord on legislation that will improve, if admittedly not entirely cure, the problem.

We're not just talking about knee-jerk gun control, the very mention of which frequently causes some people to run out and buy more guns. We're talking about debating laws that keep weapons of mass casualty out of the hands of people who intend to do harm - banning bump stocks, requiring the registration of certain weapons, tougher background checks and assurances that whatever regulations are adopted are enforced. Surely out of a more reasonable discussion, we can find something that will at least diminish the problem.

And if today's crop of politicians won't do anything, then they need to get out of the way.