Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

This time the shooter turned his gun on TV journalists broadcasting live.

Vester Lee Flanagan apparently wanted his act to be seen and broadcast directly to the world, so society would understand that he had suffered from racism and homophobia at work, and that he wanted revenge for what happened earlier this year in Charleston when nine black churchgoers were killed by a white shooter.

Flanagan was a former employee of the Virginia TV station where the murdered journalists worked. He was dismissed by the station and escorted from the building by police two years ago. After the shooting, he sent a fax to ABC News saying that his anger had been "building steadily" and that he had become "human powder keg" that was "waiting to go BOOM!!!!"

It looks like he had gone completely mad and no one should blame the weapon in his hand.

Things are quickly and quietly easing to another direction.

This is not the first shooting tragedy that has happened in the US in the last eight months of 2015.

Alison Parker and Adam Ward were only 24 and 27 years old. They had bright professional future. How could they know that they would become victims?

According to FBI estimates, American citizens own more than 250 million firearms, and 5 million new guns are sold every year.

No matter how many tragedies happen, it won't shake the fundamental belief of the majority of Americans that "guns don't kill people, people kill people."

GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio, also asked the public, after the shooting, "What law in the world could have prevented him from killing them?"

President Barack Obama said these kinds of incidents break his heart every time. Obama is no stranger to mass shootings, having spoken out about them more than 14 times since taking office. He has called the failure to pass gun reform "the greatest frustration" of his presidency, but vowed not to give up. However, he doesn't have much time left.

It seems Obama is not fighting alone. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton claimed that the US needs a greater gun control, as well as universal background checks. But it's a very political, difficult issue in the US.

Are there any clear solutions? No. They can keep pushing it, but the Second Amendment is like a huge solid bank vault door, blocking soft ineffectual fists and protecting the benefit of munitions merchants.

To gun advocates, gun culture is a celebration of their heritage and cultural identity. The journalists' deaths are probably only a natural consequence of the unhealthy glorification of firearms.

To victims' families, guns are no longer their protectors. Guns are no longer the weapons used by Minutemen in the Revolutionary War to battle the professional soldiers of the British Empire. It is not 230 years ago, and times have changed.

The shooter, Flanagan, ran off the highway when he was chased by the police. He was found suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and died later in the hospital. One gun killed three humans. There will be no interrogation of the shooter and probably in a few days no one will talk about this attack, and life will go back to normal.

But, will history and the next generations forget?

Will they forgive us for letting it happen and doing nothing?

The author is a host and reporter with CCTV Spanish Channel. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn