Prayers aren’t enough for gun victims

 Are they kidding? The most dangerous place in the world today is the United States. Think about it: A first-grade classroom. A college campus. A navy office building. A movie theater. A shopping center. A church. A women’s health clinic. And now a center for the developmentally disabled. All sites of mass shootings.

 So once again, we have to ask: What will it take? How many innocent people have to be killed? How many families destroyed? How many communities shattered before politicians have the guts to stand up to the NRA and adopt some tough, but common-sense, gun safety measures?

 Every one of those shootings was different: different motives, targets and gunmen. But they all had one thing in common: guns, most often multiple guns, in the hands of people who should never have been able to buy a gun in the first place.

 In a perfect world, what would follow news of the San Bernardino shooting would be a determination on the part of Congress to adopt new, commonsense gun safety measures. Instead, we got the usual dribble of pious political pronouncements. Countless members of Congress tweeted out how they were keeping victims and families of San Bernardino in their ‘thoughts and prayers.’

 Sure, prayers are fine. But prayers aren’t enough. And prayers are no substitute for action. When news broke of a shooting on the campus of a community college in Roseburg, Oregon, then-Speaker John Boehner asked the House to observe a moment of silence — at the end of which Schakowsky shouted out: ‘Now, let’s do something!’

 May that cry again echo through the Capitol building, this time with better results. We don’t need more moments of silence, more thoughts and prayers. What we really need is action.

 Until we end the easy access to guns, no place in the United States is safe.