Gruesome, Unbelievable, Bizarre, Unacceptable

I was in a sports shop in West Virginia last year. I was looking around. I was checking out the camping gear. I was amused. I was surprised at how much gear you could buy just to sleep in the woods. I was sniggering at rubbery dungarees in a thousand shades of grassy green and then I was distracted by a loud double-clicking sound.

Click click.

I was drawn to a corner. I was asked if I was ok, sir. I said I was. I was standing in front of a selection of guns, a couple of hundred perhaps. I was in a sports shop in West Virginia. I was distracted by a girl and her brother. She was younger than him. She was about 16. She was holding a shotgun.

The horse has bolted but it's long been clear - the United States of America has a gun problem. And it's this: they are acceptable - their presence, their appearance, their sound, their calibre, their ability to murder is accepted in the United States of America by more people than those who oppose it.

It is morally wrong. It de-sensitises people to have guns moving freely around society. The other people in the sports shop in West Virginia thought nothing of two people checking out some weapon of mass destruction. They don't say no. They are desensitised. They accept the presence of guns. They're even at football matches when the home team scores a touchdown.

Imagine being able to buy a gun in Tescos. Imagine buying your child a gun for their 18th birthday. Imagine showing off your gun collection to friends after Christmas dinner.

You don't have to imagine it. Just move to America.

Surely now they will be woken from their slumber. Surely now someone will have the guts to honour the memory of the murdered. Surely the election candidates will get past being female, black, republican or democrat. Show some guts and take on the gun lobbies. What was right 200 years ago is not necessarily ok now - see slavery. Will the presidential candidates show true character, genuine leadership?

They must. The enemy lies within. America needs to realise that. College shooting don't happen in other countries.

There's no allowing for people losing the plot and murdering 33 people but more can be done to make it harder to do so. Questions should also be asked of the police and social services. But foremost of a country that prohibits an 18 year old to buy a bottle of beer and permits him to buy a gun.