Progress possible against headwind of mass killings

The nation has become all but numb to the repetitive shocks of the mass shootings that light up the news wires at seemingly regular intervals. And the inability of elected leaders to find a way forward in response has left the public feeling powerless against the slaughter.

Sunday’s bloodbath in Orlando, Fla., was a heinous attack at Pulse, a gay nightclub, perpetrated by a lone gunman who claimed variously to be fighting on behalf of ISIS and in alliance with other groups. This was a hate crime as well as an act of terror.

It’s not clear if ISIS or any other organization had direct ties to Omar Mateen, killer of 49. But organizational control is no longer necessary in this age of social media and its instant linkages. Inspiration by an Islamic terror group, or any other radical ideology, is enough of a spark to light the fire.

And the difficulty of erasing that link or controlling the criminal behavior it spawns is what frustrates policy makers. The complexity of the issue ensures that progress can be made only incrementally — but nonetheless, it can be made.

It starts with the realization that fighting back against these attacks requires increasing vigilance in crimefighting efforts domestically. Ramping up the bombing raids overseas isn’t enough. The battle with the so-called Islamic State has necessary components of military force, of course, but even military experts concede that this isn’t conventional warfare.

One surprising element of the Orlando story was that Mateen, who also died in the final police counteroffensive, accomplished what he did despite being under some law-enforcement scrutiny.

In Hawaii, where gun regulation is very strict, it’s hard to imagine how someone like this gunman, who had twice caught the attention of law enforcement, could end up possessing the firepower he had acquired.

The FBI, which had pursued two separate inquiries based on reports, removed him from watch lists when the probes produced no basis for prosecution.

As an American citizen, he could make a claim on gun rights based on Florida law.

The gun-sale protocols in Florida and other states deserve review and a search for ways to improve pre-screening before purchase. A longer waiting period for gun purchase, by itself, may not have prevented this crime.

But scrutiny isn’t the job of government alone. This was a man who had been hired by a private security guard agency, which should have had better controls of its own.

There may be lessons to learn from a parallel case in Santa Monica, Calif., where police intercepted James Howell with a cache of weapons before he was able to inflict harm on participants in a gay parade there.

According to police reports, a routine report about a prowler led to a search of Howell’s car, where the firearms were found.

It was good, basic police work that saved lives here, and often that is where success in the prevention campaign lies.

Realistically, even a reasonable national crackdown on firearms access — restrictions on ammunition capacity of firearms, for example — is a nonstarter in the current political climate, as the presidential campaign rages on.

American leadership also must recognize that those who died in Orlando can be counted as collateral damage in U.S. foreign wars, victims of killers retaliating against American actions to defeat terrorist organizations abroad.

But even without these political aspects, the Orlando tragedy was mass murder targeting a specific group, the gay community that frequented the nightclub.

Cultural reform to erase this kind of senseless hate is a mission not for months or years to come, but for a generation or more.