Public security

When mass shootings become ordinary

Now “things that everyone ought to do” include “remove your shoes” and “leave liquids at home.” And “little ordinary things” involve pat-downs, full-body scans, concrete planters in front of buildings and the horror of the unattended package. No more “none of your business.” Now it’s “see something, say something.” All the ordinary things of our day.

Let’s add the latest entry into the commonplace: mass shootings. So far this year, according to a tracker maintained by Reddit called Guns are Cool, there have been 355; that’s an average of more than one a day. And last week’s Colorado Springs massacre came with a twist: a suspect reportedly on a mission to commit premeditated and treacherous murder for ideological and religious reasons.