IT HAS BECOME A WAKING NATIONAL NIGHTMARE, a recurring horror that we can’t explain or defend but that we are condemned to repeat. We know it will happen again. We seem helpless to stop it.
The latest nightmare began on May 18 with the news: there had been another school shooting. This time, it unfolded at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, a town of about 12,000 people clustered around a sun-soaked highway southeast of Houston. As the reports came in from law enforcement and medical personnel, it became clear that this had been a deadly event. Ten people were killed, including eight students and two teachers: Jared Black, 17; Shana Fisher, 16; Christian Riley Garcia, 15; Aaron Kyle McLeod, 15; Angelique Ramirez, 15; Sabika Sheikh, 17;…