It was hard to believe it had happened again: shots ringing out (phrasal verb) sounding loud and clear. Victims running in terror. Families crying for dead loved ones. Others praying at candlelight vigils n. quiet, watchful times for thinking and remembering.

Our nation has gone through many mass shootings n. killing or hurting of groups of people by gunfire. In 2007, one gunman killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus. In 2011, a shooter killed six in Arizona.