Sometimes we think about creating a template in the computer system for writing about mass shootings. It would have blank spaces for the location, the number of victims and the identity of the shooter. Most everything else would be the same.

But that would be to give up. And when it comes to the scourge of gun violence, Americans must recall what Winston Churchill said about a different scourge: "Never give up! Never give up!! Never, never, never-never-never-never!"

On Wednesday afternoon, the scourge came to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in suburban Fort Lauderdale. The shooter was Nikolas Cruz, 19, who was captured alive. His weapon was the mass-killer's favorite, an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle, a variation of the military's M-16 that was designed specifically to kill human beings. The number of dead totals 17 as this is written, but 12 others were wounded and an AR-15 round inflicts terrible wounds.

It was the 239th school shooting since the slaughter of 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., just over five years ago. Sandy Hook, with its tiny victims, should have been the one to change things. It wasn't. Since then, 138 more people have died in school shootings. Add in incidents at nightclubs, concert venues, homes, workplaces and other sites, there have been more than 1,500 other shootings where four or more people died.

Official America thinks all of this is too bad, but not bad enough to try to fix. President Donald Trump, in the traditional griever-in-chief response, said, "To every parent, teacher and child who is hurting so badly, we are here for you, whatever you need, whatever we can do, to ease your pain."

It was a kind speech, but it didn't mention the word "guns." And surely Trump didn't really mean "whatever we can do," because that would include confronting the gun lobby. Trump and congressional Republicans quake at the thought. Instead they will cite mental problems, even though just a year ago they rolled back an Obama-era regulation that made it harder for the mentally ill to buy guns.

No doubt Nikolas Cruz is the very definition of "troubled." An adoptive child who'd lost both his parents, he left warning signs all over social media. He'd had mental health treatment but walked away from it. It did not stop him from legally buying an AR-15.

Maybe that's where we start, with an agreement on universal background checks, longer waits for purchases and aggressive reports to law enforcement about troubled individuals. Most Americans, including most gun-owners and even most NRA members, support those ideas.

More ambitious steps must wait for the political climate to change. It will take years and the scourge will strike again. But never give in.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH