Lethal weapons

In his moving response to the news of the shootings and in his decision to visit Newtown yesterday and offer what comfort he can to the families, the President has displayed tact, concern and empathy, but also a strong sense of purpose.

It is only to be hoped that, in pledging “meaningful action” to avoid such a tragedy happening again, President Obama is not, like so many politicians before him, avowing good intentions which will never be fulfilled.

The belief that personal freedom is synonymous with the right to bear arms is part of the fabric of American society. If Mr Obama is truly determined to limit the legal possession of weapons, he will have a fearsome fight on his hands, one he surely does not need at a time when the US political establishment is already bitterly divided and there is the small matter of an economy to be rescued.

Newly re-elected, and in search of a substantial political legacy, Mr Obama is well positioned to make gun control the defining struggle of his second term just as healthcare reform came to dominate his first period in office.

Of course, no law can abolish the human capacity for evil displayed so chillingly in Newtown on Friday. As in so many school shootings, however, from Dunblane to Columbine, these were murders committed with legal weapons. And if the law can limit the capacity of evil to express itself through legal ways, then it is the responsibility of politicians to ensure that it does so.