Advocates for stricter gun laws in America are exasperated, and they want you to know it. The reaction among opinion-makers to the bloodiest single act of mass murder in America’s history evolved from shock and empathy to partisan rancor with rare alacrity. For many, this attack is yet another indication that America’s lax gun laws and its violent culture need to be curbed. But if this were their genuinely urgent mission, you would think they might abandon the tactics that have repeatedly failed to achieve their stated objective. They have not.

The reactions from liberal trendsetters in the first hours of these increasingly frequent mass shootings unfold in stages. Initially, we are privy to displays of cultural hostility that masquerade as exhibitions of policy-oriented seriousness. For example, Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton insisted he would not observe a moment of silence in Congress for the victims in Las Vegas because “it’s a time for action.” What action was delayed by these few seconds of reverence for the dead, Moulton did not say. But he was only emulating Rep. Jackie Speier, who did the same thing for the same reasons in December 2015, following an Islamist terror attack in San Bernardino.