Thoughts, prayers aren’t needed now; real solutions are

Ihear it wherever we have another mass shooting and I bring up the need to have a national conversation about common-sense gun regulation.

I heard it again on Monday, after the mass shooting in Las Vegas. “Now is not the time to talk about gun politics,” I’m told. “There will be plenty of time to do so later. After we’ve mourned.”

How can I put this in the most polite and respectful way? Bull.

Now is the time. Actually, it is way,

way past time.

Many of those who suggest it is not the right time to bring up gun laws believe it is never the right time to bring up gun laws.

I recall something said in 2014 by a grieving father named Richard Martinez, whose 20-year-old son, Christopher Michaels-Martinez, was one of six individuals killed during a shooting and knifing spree near the University of California-Santa Barbara that also left 13 injured.

Martinez said of the politicians who spoke of our need to pause and mourn, “I don’t care about your sympathy . ... Get to work and do something.” They didn’t.

After the 2011 mass shooting outside Tucson that nearly killed then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, President Barack Obama invoked the name of the youngest victim, 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, saying, “I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. …

“All of us — we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.” We didn’t.

About a year later, during the 2012 memorial service for the 20 6- and 7year olds and six adults murdered at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school, Obama said, “Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?

“I’ve been reflecting on this the last few days. If we’re honest with ourselves, the answer is no. And we will have to change.”

We didn’t.

So, please, don’t tell me after the mass shooting in Las Vegas that we need time to mourn.

We have mourned before. Many times. Too many times. And we are mourning still for the earlier dead.

We can mourn and talk. Congress can mourn and act.

Should there be a universal background check on each gun sale, public or private? Should certain weapons be banned?

What about bump stocks, which turn rifles into automatic weapons? Should we restrict the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines? Should we prohibit internet sales of guns and ammunition?

Our politicians — as well as the rest of us — should stop with the false piousness and the well-rehearsed empathy, and instead honor the plea of a grieving father from years ago:

“Get to work and do something.”