However horrific, the assault rifle murder of 19 fourth graders and two beloved teachers in a rural Texas classroom has become so tragically familiar.

The statistics are devastating: 169 shooting deaths of four or more victims at schools or colleges in various states since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 gave rise to the national debate on gun laws and school safety.

The data, compiled by the Associated Press, does not include the deadliest mass shootings in non-school locations in recent years, including 10 Black people gunned down at a supermarket in Buffalo two weeks ago.

Or the 49 people killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016, the 60 slaughtered at a music concert in Las Vegas in 2017 and the 26 that same year at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Or the 23 shot to death at the Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019.

Gun violence continues to spread with the recognized ills of mental instability, inadequate safety systems and lenient gun laws. Crime statistics show America has the highest homicide-by-firearm rate among developed countries.

The gunman who slaughtered the students and their teachers at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde legally purchased two AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, large capacity magazines and 375 rounds of ammunition after turning 18 years old, the legal age in Texas for gun purchases.

Under overriding federal law, he was not old enough (21) to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer in Texas even though state law allows it. No gun permit or training required.

Investigators said the gunman tipped off his intentions with a private text message shortly before entering the school through an apparently unlocked side door. The text recipient: A teenage girl in Germany he had met earlier online.

“I just shot my grandma in her head,” messaged the gunman. “Ima go shoot up a elementary school rn (right now).” The grandmother survived with severe wounds.

No town said sadder prayers nor grieved more than Uvalde, a mostly Latino community 70 miles north of the Mexican border. “Who would do this?” and “This doesn’t happen here!” remarks ended forever the feeling that “here” is immune to heinous gun violence.

Regrettably, mass shootings have become so frequent across the country no school or community is immune.

Public officials solemnly offer their thoughts and prayers each time but avoid common sense gun controls.

Federal measures such as expanding background checks for gun purchases, including those at gun shows and on the internet; banning assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, and allowing authorities to take firearms from people who exhibit concerning behavior.

The patchwork of state gun laws isn’t working. Congress needs to break the paralysis over national gun law reform. Reasonable regulations do not take guns from lawful owners. The Second Amendment is not a barrier to public safety and saving lives.

What’s more, the vast majority of Americans support rigorous background checks for all gun purchases and restrictions on semiautomatic assault rifles and their magazine capacities.

The time for standing still is over. Too many American lives are at stake. Since Columbine, 311,000 students across the country have experienced gun violence at school, a Washington Post analysis concluded.

The 9-, 10- and 11-year-olds and their teachers at Robb Elementary lost their lives to a gunman armed to the teeth with violent weapons common to a war zone and not a classroom.

They paid the deadly consequence of political inaction.

Bill Ketter is the senior vice president of news for CNHI. Reach him at wketter@cnhi.com.