Another weekend, another mass shooting — this time in Odessa, Texas, where a 36-year-old man, who had been fired from his oil services job earlier Saturday, initially shot a Texas state trooper during a routine traffic stop and then went on a 10-mile, hourlong shooting rampage, killing and wounding people in passing cars, in neighborhoods, at car dealerships and shopping plazas and killing a postal worker while hijacking her mail truck.

The gunman finally was taken out by law enforcement authorities, but not before leaving a trail of murder and broken lives. He killed seven people ranging in age from 15 to 57 and wounded 25 others, including a 17-month-old baby and three police officers.

And what is the reaction out of Washington?

#MassacreMitch, the new and applicable moniker for U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, continues to sandbag even basic efforts for tighter gun control nationally. 

The Republican leader has refused to take up legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives in February that would expand federal background checks before gun purchases. The bill, which had bipartisan support in the House, would close loopholes that allow private and online sales of guns, and sales of weapons at gun shows, without background checks.

According to reports, the Odessa, Texas, gunman took advantage of such loopholes to obtain the AR-style rifle he used to carry out Saturday’s massacre. He purchased the weapon from a private dealer, bypassing the federal background check, which he had failed during a 2014 gun purchase attempt because of “mental issues.”

Sen. McConnell, who declined to call the Senate back into session from its summer recess to take up gun control legislation following the back-to-back mass murders in early August in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, said this week that he’s waiting for President Trump to say what bill he’d be willing to sign into law before taking up a measure in the Senate.

We don’t understand or support that rationale, particularly when 61 percent of Americans favor stricter gun laws, according to a May Quinnipiac poll, and 94 percent supported universal background checks for all gun purchases.

The Odessa massacre is just the latest indication of the violent sickness that has stricken our nation. According to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, it was the 289th mass shooting in the United States this year, claiming a collective 313 lives and causing 1,209 injuries. The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot and/or killed.

  We ask again, how many people must die before Congress — and yes, members of the Virginia General Assembly — decide to take action? Are Virginians OK with mass murders being our new normal?

The violence in Odessa took place exactly three months after the tragic mass shooting in Virginia Beach in which a gunman who had quit his job as a civil engineer with the City of Virginia Beach opened fire in the municipal building, killing 12 people and wounding four others.

In the wake of that May 31 shooting, Democratic Gov. Ralph S. Northam called a special session of the Virginia General Assembly to consider sound, practical and tighter gun laws, including universal background checks before all gun purchases; a ban on assault weapons, bump stocks and high-capacity ammunition magazines; limiting handgun purchases to one per month; and instituting a “red flag law” allowing law enforcement to take possession of firearms belonging to a person credibly believed to be a danger to others or themselves.

But just like the GOP-controlled Senate in Washington, the Republican-controlled Virginia legislature sandbagged any progress in this state. GOP lawmakers adjourned the special session in less than 90 minutes, sending the measures to the Virginia State Crime Commission for investigation and consideration until after the Nov. 5 elections.

The status quo is unacceptable. The continuing gun violence around the nation — and the inertia by elected officials in Virginia and in Washington — are unacceptable for the lives and well-being of our children, our families and our communities.

We demand that Virginia officials, and those in Washington, take action now.

And we urge Virginia voters, who will be going to the polls on Nov. 5 to elect representatives for all 140 seats in the state Senate and House of Delegates, to carefully screen the candidates and only support those who are dedicated to taking swift action to end this epidemic of gun violence.

 When we say, “The status quo is unacceptable,” we mean it. Unlike Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, we don’t speak those words lightly. In a nationally broadcast news conference the day after the Odessa massacre, he said: “The status quo in Texas is unacceptable and action is needed.” 

Yet, sadly, as he spoke, eight new laws had taken effect in Texas that day expanding where and when people can have guns. 

Among them: Allowing people with concealed weapons permits to carry guns into churches, synagogues and places of worship if no signs prohibiting them are posted; prohibiting landlords from banning tenants and their guests from having firearms on rental property; barring school districts from prohibiting people with handgun licenses from storing guns and ammunition in their vehicles in school parking lots as long as the weapons and ammo are out of sight; removing a cap on the number of school marshals who carry guns at public and private schools; and allowing people to carry handguns without a license in declared disaster zones.

We eschew the belief that allowing more guns is the answer to stopping gun violence. 

We also commend Walmart CEO Doug McMillon who announced on Tuesday that the nation’s largest retailer will stop selling ammunition for handguns and for short-barrel rifles, such as the .223 and 5.56 calibers used in military-style weapons. 

In a memo, Mr. McMillon asked that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms at all Walmart and Sam’s Club stores across the country — including in “open-carry” states like Virginia — unless they are law enforcement officers.

“In a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these will happen again,” Mr. McMillon stated in his memo. “The status quo is unacceptable.”

Other companies, including Target, Wendy’s, Starbucks and Kroger grocery stores, have followed in taking this small, but important step to help secure customer safety by asking people to not openly carry weapons when they come into one of their stores.

We believe that collective action is the key to turning the tide in America against gun violence. We urge our readers to help bring about the change and action that’s needed by speaking up, speaking out and going to the polls to support candidates who support tougher gun laws.