This week, scores of people will once again experience the grief of missing loved ones who were cut down by a man with multiple deadly weapons in the high school he shared with his victims. The Parkland, Fla. mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which killed 17 people and injured 17, joins the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which devastated a classroom of precious children, as two of the most horrific moments in American history. The irony that the Parkland slaughter was on Valentine's Day only increases the suffering. While many will celebrate having and enjoying their loved ones in their lives, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survivors will only feel afresh a terrible vacuum.
All these years after Sandy Hook — and a full year after Marjory Stoneman — Congress has finally responded with a first step toward curbing the use of firearms to kill, terrorize, and stain the social fabric with blood, sadness and fear. This new bill, H.R. 8, is a proposed federal law requiring universal background checks before the purchase of any deadly firearm. This action paves the way for similar bills enacting a "red flag" law, so that anyone can point to a disturbed person before he or she buys a gun to hurt others.
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