These shootings have shown that innocent people die and that not all gunmen are gangsters or known criminals. Many in the mainstream US media have shifted in recent weeks towards favouring more gun control. More than four Americans die accidentally because of firearms every day. Because of of this year's highly publicised shootings, politicians are under greater pressure than ever to enact laws restricting gun ownership. There is also widespread support for a ban on assault or semi-automatic weapons, a ban on internet gun sales, and the introduction of trigger locks.
Some legal moves are afoot, reflecting the public mood.
Senator Dianne Fienstein of California, a Democrat, is tabling a bill this autumn to ban possession of all assault weapons. She is backed by the state's governor, Gray Davis, a Vietnam war veteran, who says that there is a place for automatic weapons in war but not in a civilised society. Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, and Senator Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, have proposed a measure to make it mandatory for handguns to be sold with child locks. Their amendment is to the juvenile justice bill now in committee. A measure to ban internet gun sales has already been defeated once in congress but is back on the agenda and under discussion in the senate.