WEB CHUTNEY

A heavily armed man and woman dressed for battle opened fire on a holiday banquet for his co-workers Wednesday, killing 14 people and seriously wounding more than a dozen others in a precision assault, authorities said. Hours later, they died in a shootout with police. One of the suspects has been identified as a man named Syed Farook, US media reported.

The shooting happened at a social services center for the disabled where the suspect’s colleagues with the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health were renting space for a celebration.

The fact that the shooting took place in California is particularly remarkable, given that it has the most restrictive gun laws in the United States, thanks to a highly progressive legislature.

Conservatives are already leaping on California’s gun laws as evidence that even “strict gun control” doesn’t work, but they’re missing the larger and critical picture here: The state’s gun control isn’t terribly strict on a global scale - only nationally.

We can blame the gun lobby for all of this or we can take serious measures to ensure the safety of every human being despite their nationality.