Douglas Heye is a CNN political commentator and ex-deputy chief of staff to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. (CNN) With yet another tragic mass shooting in the books, we've fallen back into a familiar, almost comfortable place in Washington. On the Republican side, we tend to offer thoughts and prayers and not much else. Substantive efforts to solve the problem, whether legislatively or through regulation, are either not discussed or are not followed through. Having worked in Eric Cantor's majority leader office and, thus, tangentially with the Virginia congressional delegation, I was always struck by the reaction of colleagues whenever the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting was mentioned.

Source: CNN February 16, 2018 03:15 UTC