In its first front-page editorial since 1920, the New York Times says the San Bernadino shootings and other recent mass killings call for new gun control measures. “Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership. It is possible to define those guns in a clear and effective way and, yes, it would require Americans who own those kinds of weapons to give them up for the good of their fellow citizens,” the newspaper says. The Times says that U.S. “politicians abet would-be killers by creating gun markets for them, and voters allow those politicians to keep their jobs.”
The newspaper concedes that “no law can unfailingly forestall a specific criminal” and that killers “obtained weapons illegally in places like France, England and Norway that have strict gun laws.” The Times concludes that, “at least those countries are trying. The United States is not.” The last front-page editorial in the Times lamented the nomination of Warren Harding as the Republican presidential candidate.