I just posted a rant about this on another forum (with far more right-wingers, so I expect significant disagreement), so I'm just going to repost it here...
At this point, it seems like the US treats mass shootings (Sandy Hook, Pulse, now Vegas...) as natural disasters.
When, of course, they're anything but.
Natural disasters happen. Sure, climate change is making some of them worse (hurricanes especially), but ultimately it's nature that's in charge of this place, and we're interlopers.
But the US has had two "worst shootings in US history" in two years now--Pulse and now Vegas. If the Vegas death toll doesn't ultimately exceed that of Breivik's murderous rampage, I don't think it'll be long before the US has a shooting topping that one.
But when these things are brought up, those who advocate for tighter gun regulations are told to shut up and not politicize the tragedy. IT'S NOT FUCKING POLITICAL ANY MORE. THESE ARE REAL LIVING, BREATHING, CONTRIBUTING PEOPLE DYING, AND IT CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE IN YOUR COUNTRY AT ANY TIME.
Even though a gigantic proportion of the public is in favour of tighter regulations (especially in the wake of these slaughters), Congress can't even pass the weakest bills. Even Heller and its ilk allow for some regulation--and for myself, I think those decisions were horrendous and I think the Second Amendment needs to hit the dustbin of history where it belongs (especially since the original purposes of it--precluding the need for a federal standing army and keeping slaves from escaping--are no longer relevant, since official slavery is gone and the federal government, for better or worse, maintains a standing army)--but Congress can't even pass what those decisions allow, never mind find the political balls to go further.
These are not natural disasters. These are entirely preventable events, and the fact that you can't do anything about them and just treat them as natural disasters is just one more reason why (other) developed countries look at the US and wish dearly that it weren't also considered a developed country.