So now we have 26 dead children and school staffers in Newtown, CT, just days after we had a shooter in a shopping mall in a Portland suburb.

In 2012 there have been at least five of these types of shootings. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Aug. 5, 2012: A gunman opens fire at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. killing six people and wounding three. Police shot and killed the suspect, Wade Michael Page, after the attack.

July 20, 2012: During a midnight screening of the film “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colo., a gunman opens fire on the crowded theater. At least 12 people are killed and 38 others are wounded. The suspect, James Holmes, set off a smoke device in the front of the theater before opening fire. Directly after the incident, Holmes, age 24, was arrested in a parking lot behind the theater.

April 2, 2012: One Goh, a 43-year-old former student at Oikos University, a Christian school, opened fire on the Oakland, Calif., campus, killing seven people and wounding several others.

March 6, 2012: Shane Schumerth, a 28-year-old teacher at Episcopal High School in Jacksonville, Fla., returned to the campus after being fired and shot and killed the headmistress, Dale Regan, with an assault rifle.

Feb. 27, 2012: At Chardon High School in Ohio, a former classmate opened fire, killing three students and injuring six. Arrested shortly after the incident, the shooter said that he randomly picked students.

How many more need to die before our politicians muster the nerve to confront the NRA and tell it to shut up and back down about banning assault weapons and about requiring private sellers to conduct background investigations before selling a weapon, rather than just requiring licensed dealers to do so?

If you feel like taking direct action with the NRA, here’s its contact information: