He handled her scarf gently and lovingly. Tears dripped from his eyes as his fingers got lost in the fabric. She was alive in his mind, yet she was now owned by a memory greater than herself. Mass shootings not only kill people, they consume victims memories and become their last names.

Remember a conversation in New York some years ago. We were discussing how the US elects its president. A well-informed person said during this discussion that it would be unthinkable that someone as crooked as Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi could be elected president in America.