This is a very sad day. The appalling news from Connecticut has stunned the nation, and we’re all talking (again!) about guns in America. The only decent question is: Why are we still talking about it?

I write stories about crime and criminals. I’ve invented creeps and losers and lunatics who commit all sorts of mayhem in my mysteries. But that’s where they belong–in mystery stories. How do we keep them there, and out of the real world? I don’t have an answer for that, but I know one solution that would slow them down considerably.

It’s called gun control.

It’s time, folks. If I hear that lame, singsong excuse one more time–“Guns don’t kill people; PEOPLE kill people!”–I’m going to get even angrier than I am right now, and I don’t know if that’s possible. Reality check: GUNS KILL PEOPLE! Period. End of sentence. Especially multi-round, automatic rifles and handguns. These weapons are not designed for hunting or sports marksmanship; their only purpose is to engage the enemy in battle. So how on earth did some 20-year-old psycho in Newtown, Connecticut, obtain them in the first place? “People kill people.” True enough–but without those military-grade assault weapons, he wouldn’t have been capable of killing twenty-seven people, most of them small children,  and (mercifully) himself, in a matter of minutes.

Our city’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said it all this afternoon. He said the time for discussion is over; now it’s time to act. Amen to that. Before another Newtown. Another Oregon shopping mall. Another Colorado movie theater. Another Arizona grocery store. Another Virginia Tech. Another Columbine. How many calamities does it take? No more. Let’s get rid of that obscene Gun Lobby and replace it with a Life Lobby, and I mean now. Today, twenty children and seven adults in Connecticut demand it. And that’s just today. There could be others tomorrow, and the day after that, until we finally decide to do something about it. Maybe we can’t get rid of guns in America entirely, but we can certainly make it a hell of a lot more difficult for the bad guys to get their hands on them.

Let’s decide. Now. Please.