If we are going to keep saying, “let’s have a conversation,” then by God let’s do it. Right now, we are seeing advocates against guns and for guns try to score points and demonize one another. That’s not a conversation. It’s an exercise in futility.

Issues such as education, poverty, income disparities, anger, violent video games and images, and many others must be looked at if we want to come to grips with America’s deadly infatuation with guns.

Again, not everything is a direct cause. But any psychologist will tell you that a variety of factors lead to someone killing one person or 20.

For my media brothers and sisters, we have done a weak job at making this conversation broad and in-depth. We can’t give it short shrift and think that a seven-minute panel will do the trick. We can’t put so much attention on Newtown and ignore Chicago. It’s not just about what happens in Washington, but also in state houses, commissioners’ courts and city halls across the land.