PD Editorial: Mourning yet another mass shooting

Yet again.

Another mass murder in another American community, this time San Bernardino. Initial reports say as many as three gunman, dressed like commandos and armed with rifles, killed at least 14 people and wounded 17 others inside a service center for the developmentally disabled. Capping a manhunt that unfolded on live television, authorities killed two suspects, detained a third person and continued to search.

It’s shocking, yet painfully familiar - the third mass shooting in a public place in as many months, the second in as many weeks.

Once again, our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones. Once again, we see chaotic scenes and heartbroken survivors and wonder when and where the epidemic of gun violence will strike next.

In the coming days, as friends and relatives mourn the dead, expect to hear some familiar questions: Why are mass shooting so commonplace in America? What prompts someone to mow down innocent strangers - movie patrons, children in an elementary school, members a Bible study group?

Investigators didn’t immediately say whether the victims of Wednesday’s attack, who may have been San Bernardino County public health employees attending a holiday banquet in a rented conference room, were selected at random or deliberately targeted. It may be a workplace dispute, but the FBI didn’t rule out terrorism.

Authorities may not know the motive, but they will search unimpeded for an explanation of this reprehensible act.

As for the larger questions, the questions that conceivably might prevent some future massacre, answers are few. And the search is hamstrung by a misguided law that bars the use of federal dollars to research the causes of gun violence.

The Dickey amendment, named for its author, former Rep. Jay Dickey, was enacted in 1998, halting research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four years ago, Congress extended the restriction to the National Institutes of Health.

In October, after a gunman killed 10 college students and wounded seven others in Roseburg, Ore., Dickey said he regrets his role in passing the law. And in a letter released a few hours before Wednesday’s shooting, Dickey said it should be repealed.

“Research could have been continued on gun violence without infringing on the rights of gun owners, in the same fashion that the highway industry continued its research without eliminating the automobile,” Dickey, an Arkansas Republican, says in his letter.

Despite widespread public support, Congress hasn’t taken up legislation requiring universal background checks to try to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally unstable.

It’s too late to save thousands of shooting victims, including those who died Wednesday in San Bernardino, but Congress can honor them by taking Dickey’s advice and allowing two of the nation’s most respected research institutions to renew their studies of gun violence.

“Doing nothing,” Dickey said, “is no longer an acceptable solution.”