As mass shootings plague US, survivors mourn lack of change
For those who have lived through mass shootings, and for the law enforcement officers trying to prevent them, the answer is self-evident.
"Because we allow it," said Sandy Phillips, whose daughter was among 12 killed at Colorado movie theater in July 2012.
President Barack Obama called the latest massacre a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub.
Obama dedicated much of the start of his second term to pushing legislation to expand background checks, ban certain assault-style weapons and cap the size of ammunition clips.
In Colorado, fresh off the Aurora theater shooting and still healing from the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in which two students killed 13 people and themselves, Democrats in the state Legislature in 2013 muscled through new laws requiring universal background checks and banning magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.
Gun control advocates considered it a victory, until furious gun rights supporters forced from office two state senators who supported the measures.