Shortly before I began writing this, a mass shooting at a crowded bar on the South Carolina coast left four people dead and many more injured — some seriously. It is a grim ritual now, each tragedy blending into the next until even horror feels routine.

No country on earth bleeds like the U.S. No nation so wealthy, so wired, and so watched has grown so numb to slaughter. Schools, malls, churches, cinemas — each new massacre arrives like bad weather. Flags lower, candles burn and then life resumes. Until the next mass shooting occurs.

Each time, the same arguments are raised. Some blame guns, others entertainment; some point to politics, others to parents. Yet the question that truly matters is rarely ever asked. Why, after seeing so much suffering, do so many still pick up guns and inflict more?

Every society has angry and alienated people. Only one turns alienation into annihilation with such frequency. America now averages over 500 mass shootings a year — more than one every single day. The difference isn’t merely access to weapons; it’s access to meaning.

In a country founded on freedom, too many have forgotten what freedom is for. Liberty has been twisted into........

© The Hill