'TEARS! -PRAYERS!- BACKBONE?'

As much in frustration as in grief, President Barack Obama wept after the massacre of 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school in 2012;

Came close to tears in his eulogy in June 2015 for the nine parishioners murdered at a church in Charleston, S.C.; wept again the next year when, in the East Room, and in the company of victims' relatives, he vowed- to end the bloodshed.

In every case he lamented not only the heartbreak but its terrible familiarity -the sheer repetitiveness of violent events events that seem beyond the control of any president, even one as determined and eloquent as Mr. Obama.

Just as the killings have proceeded with a kind of ritualistic monotony, so, too, have the responses.

After the last outrage, in Las Vegas, President Trump, appropriately and for once on script, said, ''We are joined together today in sadness, shock and grief,'' offering prayers for the victims and even quoting the bible.

Other Republican leaders, like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, followed suit.

YET from none of these luminaries came the slightest suggestion of a policy response   -nothing about strong- or gun controls in a nation with more than enough firearms for every man, woman and child.

Nothing about tightening access to  military-style  assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Nothing [no surprise here] about finally standing up to the propaganda and deep pockets of the  National Rifle Association.

And even now, nothing can be expected of them.