The people who are now saying we need to look beyond guns are correct. The problem of firepower in the hands of kids is obvious. To continue arguing that it was the kids who killed, not the guns and bombs, is as pointless as contending it was President Truman, not an atomic bomb, that killed thousands instantly in Hiroshima. The availability of weapons provided the option for efficient killing and cannot be removed from the loop of causality. The fact that, in the wake of the Littleton, Colorado catastrophe, leading gun advocates immediately drew back from high-profile efforts to make guns easier to acquire, carry and conceal clearly indicates they understand the linkage.
More restrictive measures are inevitable.
But there is a problem more grave than guns. We must take a harder look at ourselves and our schools. There is a dangerous disconnect between teen-agers and adults in contemporary western culture. The gap has been there for decades, but our changing lifestyles and technology are making it wider and deeper. Technological advances are not going to stop, so that leaves lifestyles as the top candidate for alteration.