There are two ways to look at America’s relationship with guns.
The first is the numbers.
In the US, there are 120 guns per 100 residents - much more than any other country in the world.
11 million people have firearms in their homes, homes that include around 5 million children.
And the most up-to-date stats show 45,222 people died from gun-related injuries of all causes during 2020.
Nearly 53 people are killed each day by a firearm in the US.
They are shocking statistics, unfortunately not shocking enough to change the debate around gun control.
A debate which splits along largely partisan lines, democrats want change, republicans don’t.
There are issues round the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, of course.
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But America seems paralysed, unable to change things.
Maybe the second way of looking at America’s relationship with guns could make a difference.
The second way unfolded in Texas this week, where a boy, shortly after his 18th birthday, walked into a gun store and purchased a couple of assault weapons.
We know, of course, what happened next. 19 children and two teachers. A shooter who had 450 rounds of ammunition.
And that is where the argument has to end. Change has to come.
Better regulation, better background checks, more control. If the country won’t ban assault weapons, at least try and make things safer.
Just imagine, for a second, what those parents went through. The emotions on that short drive.
After they heard about the shooting, those families had to drive through town to Uvalde’s Civic Centre.
It’s there that - family by family - they learned whether their babies were dead or alive. The agony of those moments is almost beyond comprehension.
You could hear the screams, said witnesses, all the way down the street.
Our pound shop PM
Later this week Boris Johnson will announce changes to the law that make it easier for businesses to use imperial weights and measures.
It’s, to say the least, a bizarre decision.
Taking us back a few decades and letting people order things in pounds or gallons or hundredweights is hardly the most pressing issue for the country.
This move is nothing more than a cheap populist ploy for Mr Johnson to rouse his base.
It may go down well with them, the rest of us can see it for what it is.
A desperate measure from a Prime Minister without an ounce - or 28.350 grams - of honour.
