Ban them. Now.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who is struck by the tragic similarities between the murderous rampage at Ft. Hood last week, and the one at Virginia Tech last year. In both cases, innocent lives were shattered by unarticulated rage. In both cases, acts of courage, communities in shock, lingering questions about warning signs missed, of opportunities to stop the killer long before the killings occurred. And in both cases, calls for more effective ways of identifying and screening potential killers before their rage explodes.

But in both cases, there has been one glaring omission in the media coverage, in the cacophony of voices asking "how" and "why" on the morning after. Yes, it's appropriate to focus on the emotional demons that drove the murderer to kill. But shouldn't we be asking why we allow such deadly weapons to be available to them?

Both killers apparently used handguns guns capable of firing rapidly and often. And both of them appear to have legally acquired their murderous weapons. (In this most recent case, the alleged killer apparently bought an FN Herstal 5.7 mm. pistol at a local store called Guns Galore -- what a name! This particular model can handle a 30 round clip, and was unsuccessfully targeted for a federal ban in 2005.)

It should go without saying that they would have been far less effective killers if they did not have easy access to such weapons! Can anybody imagine that either killer would have been so murderously effective if he had been armed with a knife instead of a rapid-fire automatic?

This is crazy! We as a nation get all excited about killer spinach and tainted lettuce, but we freely allow our killers to buy guns. It is time -- way past time -- to stop this madness, reclaim the Second Amendment for the purpose the founders intended, and join the company of civilized nations which strictly control access to such deadly weapons.