Trying to make sense of this senseless act. Trying to explain things that cannot be explained. These were words frequently heard on Sunday from Newtown, Conn. When 20 children, aged 6 and 7, are gunned down by a disturbed man, it is impossible for emotionally stable people to comprehend what caused the horror.

Inevitably, gun-control advocates called for legislative action, seeing Newtown as the “tipping point” because of the ages of the victims. The New York Times, arguably the most influential newspaper in America, ran the page-one headline: PUPILS WERE SHOT MULTIPLE TIMES WITH A SEMIAUTOMATIC, OFFICIALS SAY. Next to it was a large black box with the names of the victims in reverse type. The emotional effect was powerful, and so was the subliminal message: Semiautomatics kill schoolchildren and should be banned.