try to pick up that hot potato? "The politicians are afraid to address this issue," says Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, quoted on the New York Times Blogs.

Meanwhile, La Vie Viennoise reminds us that: "The American 'liberation' of Iraq has resulted in daily death counts from Baghdad as high as those of this particular tragedy."

And he is not alone. Larry C Johnson asks for a "big, deep breath" on his No Quarter blog. "Multiple body counts and explosions and shootings are the daily experience of the people of Iraq. They have been living this hell for four years. Just keep that fact in mind as you mourn the deaths of 32 American students slain in Blacksburg, Viginia."