It became the deadliest mass shooting in American history - words last written only two years ago after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.
I read the updates of this latest massacre with horror, but, alarmingly, without surprise.
Because we've witnessed this hell on earth before.
Pulse nightclub, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Columbine, Fort Hood - unfortunately there are dozens more that could be listed.
It's the same plot; male, an arsenal of lethal weapons and a mass of innocent people dead.
When we read or watch these kind of events unfold it's easy to see the death toll as a number.
I've done it myself.
Whether it's because we are removed from the situation or possess a subconscious ability to protect ourselves, I don't know.
But this time I took a moment to think about that amount of people.
Think of the last time you stood in a room with five dozen individuals.
Or the last 59 people you had a conversation with.
That's a stretch for the memory isn't it?
It is a colossal loss of life but, I fear, nothing will change.
It's too late.
The problem has progressed too far.
When the slaying of children, like the 20 first graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, doesn't prompt reform then what will?
This is what has become of the land of the free and the home of the brave.
