Cable news channels are mostly covering today the  shootings in Maine where 18 people were killed .  Considering that there are typically around 20 firearm deaths in the entire state annually, this is consequential.  However, something like a staggering  150 suicides by gun yearly occur in Maine . This is the 565th mass shooting ( at least 4 deaths/event ) in the U.S. this year.   In 2021 , there were 48,830 gun-related deaths in the country.  54% were suicides ( 26,368 ) and 43% were murders ( 20,997 ).  Has the time finally come for gun control?  Nope.  There is something about the right to own guns and the efforts of the National Rifle Association that overcome any kind of common sense.   Any chance for some kind of ban on assault weapons?  Well, a  quarter century ago  when President Joe Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Congress passed the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, also known as the assault weapons ban.  It was Senator Diane Fe