For the umpteenth time, the nation has been plunged into the horrific details of another bloodbath at the hands of a gun-toting madman.

No sooner than we can catch our breath from the workplace holiday party-turned-mass shooting in San Bernadino, Calif., that left 14 dead and 22 injured comes the tragedy early Sunday at an Orlando, Fla., gay club, where 49 people were gunned down and 53 people were wounded.

The stories of the survivors are simply harrowing.

But what makes it feel like the nation is caught in a drowning undertow is the realization that the Orlando devastation comes on the eve of the first anniversary of the Charleston, S.C., church massacre. In that mass shooting, a 21-year-old white supremacist sat through a Bible study at Emanuel A.M.E. Church and then took out a gun and blew away nine people, including the church’s senior pastor who also was a state senator.

How many more unfathomable acts must take place — slaughtering gays, African-Americans, Latinos, immigrants, Jews and white children and adults — before our elected representatives in Washington act?

This is the 16th time President Obama has had to address a mass shooting during his two terms in office. What can he say? What words can he, or other officials, possibly use to console the families? The survivors? The nation?

We are overjoyed by the backbone grown by Democrats in the U.S. Senate, who launched a filibuster Wednesday led by Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. They vowed to speak as long as necessary to pressure reforms to curb gun violence.

But a Republican-controlled Congress, bankrolled by the National Rifle Association, has refused to take even the smallest steps toward change.

Even after the shocking deaths of 20 youngsters and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in December 2013, the NRA puppets in Congress refused to ban sales of assault weapons or expand background checks for gun purchasers.

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump believes Sunday’s massacre in Orlando is an example of why people need guns. And he brazenly criticizes President Obama for “weakness.” But we remind him and our readers that while President Obama repeatedly has called for tougher gun laws, Republican indifference to the national nightmare blocks Congress from acting to help end the madness.

We believe Orlando is another painfully clear reason why people don’t need guns, especially assault weapons like those used in the latest and previous attacks.

If someone is on a terror watch list, or a ‘no fly’ list, why should he or she be allowed to walk into a gun shop and purchase a weapon? Surely, there should be a way for a person to appeal his or her name being on such a list. We understand that innocent people can be falsely caught in a government bureaucracy and red tape. But the purchase should be stopped at the start.

Background checks also should be required before all gun purchases, no matter whether the weapon is purchased from a private seller or at a gun show. And there should be tighter bans on where people can carry their guns. Restrictions shouldn’t be limited only to courthouses, airports, schools and possibly political conventions — even Republican Party gatherings.

We warn members of Congress to take heed to the cries of the American voters demanding change — or face the consequences at the ballot box at election time. If you don’t want blood on your hands from future massacres, then do something to stem the senseless violence that is harming us all.