America?s new norm: ?Why are we willing to live with this carnage??

Not in a nation where guns outnumber people, where a culture of gun violence continues to be tolerated and where episodes of carnage have become the norm.Biden called for action by Congress to tighten gun laws, just as President Barack Obama did after the Sandy Hook shooting 10 years earlier in Newtown, Conn. Instead of moves to tighten gun laws, legislatures in Republican-led states, among them Texas, have acted to loosen them.These actions further enshrine the gun culture as part of America’s heritage, all in the name of the Second Amendment, though it’s questionable that the Founders envisioned the constitutional right to bear arms serving as such a shield in the face of mass shootings of children.Speaking on Wednesday, Biden said the Second Amendment “is not absolute,” adding, “When it was passed, you couldn’t own a cannon, you couldn’t own certain kinds of weapons.” He renewed his call for what he called “common sense” gun legislation and said such a measure would not negatively affect the amendment’s rights.Tuesday’s rampage in the small community of Uvalde ended as the second most deadly elementary school shooting in the past decade, just behind Sandy Hook, where 20 elementary students were killed, along with six adults. Only in America, however, do these afflictions manifest themselves with such regularity in mass shootings that leave families grieving, communities broken, presidents outraged and too many elected officials incapable of coming together.After Tuesday’s killings, some Texas officials said that schools need additional protection, with armed police or other armed security personnel guarding the premises. In Uvalde, two police officers encountered the shooter at the school; he nonetheless entered the school building and carried out his killings.Red-flag laws, more resources for identifying and treating mental health, and more protection for students are some of the answers offered up at times such as these.