The President and the White House pulled up a few chairs yesterday and held a conference on school safety in the wake of Nickel Mines and two other recent nightmares, and the event was as superficial as most Americans probably expected it to be. It was a big discussion group that never discussed guns, and the President pretty much dismissed any major role for the federal government in school safety: "It's really important that people not think government is a loving entity. Government is law and justice."

Whatever. This event was as empty as this administration. They don't know how to resolve the bloody Iraq mess they created. They don't know how to get spending under control and deficits reduced. They can't solve illegal immigration issues even with Republican majorities in Congress. And all they can do on school safety is assemble a discussion group that never discusses guns.

It's not just President Empty. The nation continues to suffer from outbursts of violence on school campuses and the frequent use of handguns and other firearms in the commissions of homicides, and no one in leadership even approaches the subject of gun control anymore for fear of unleashing the wrath of the NRA. In the aftermath of the Amish killings, discussions about the out-of-control numbers of guns in our culture has been muted (except in this space!)

The only politician I've heard raise the issue was the one in Wisconsin who wants to arm school teachers.

The battle over guns is over; we live in a violent nation, armed to its teeth. There's no getting over it. There's just getting used to it. And I think we're already there.