One of the first questions always asked after a huge tragedy is this: When is enough enough?

It's one of those unanswerable questions since no one really knows when enough is enough (although, I learned way back when that eight is enough). No one can say when the public will finally use their grief to affect change. But following the Columbine High School tragedy in Colorado, the question suddenly had answers.

Enough is enough. Right now!

Maybe it had something to do with timing. Most state legislatures and our national congress were in session. They're all hashing out budgets for the next year, which is the perfect time to address the question of enough. Is there enough money to say that, indeed, enough is enough?

But it wasn't just timing, since we've had school shootings happen for a while now. It seems that, finally, the public wants some real answers and policy to protect their children from, well, themselves.

Last week, the Senate passed a couple of gun control bills--something that hadn't occurred since the Brady Bill a few years back--to document and check sales of guns at gun shows and pawn shops. They passed a Republican bill that was a little pansy-ass. And then, with the help of V.P. Gore, passed a stronger Democratic bill. Immediately, the Prez called on the House to pass these bills as soon as possible. Almost as immediately the leaders of the House told him to shut up and let them do their job.

I think something will be passed, although how strong or enforceable will remain to be seen. But something will be passed because, for the first time in a while, the will of the people seems to be swaying legislatures more than the will of the money.

And, since I'm not one to be called pro-gun, I applaud these measures. While it's fine for someone to have a gun for self-protection (which is more about peace of mind than actual protection) or a little hunting, we don't need to have arsenals. There isn't going to be an invasion like Red Dawn where we'd have to arm ourselves and go hide up in the woods to amass a resistance army. But peace of mind, there is something to that. And if someone needs a gun to have peace of mind, I think that's okay.

I don't have a gun because I'm a pretty good shot. I figure if I had one and thought I'd need to use it, I'd probably hit what I was shooting at. When I was a kid, I was an archer. I started with paper targets and then, with the encouragement of my mom, began hunting the rabbits that inhabited our land. My mom had a garden, see, and the rabbits liked to eat the garden. Eventually, we drove most of those rabbits away, and I bagged quite a few of them with my bow and arrows. There was even one morning when we were re-roofing the house and I saw a rabbit on the ground about 30 feet away. "You think I can hit it?" I asked. "Nope," someone said. I flung my hammer (end over end, like they do on Xena) and it struck the bunny in the head. One hop, a little squeak and then it was dead.

So I don't have a gun.

But since I have this freedom thing--and I vociferously defend the first amendment to no logical end--I guess it would be wrong to deny someone a gun. I just think eight is enough. Guns, that is.

My question is this: Will the congress only address public issues when bad things happen? Does it take a lot of death and mayhem to shake our lawmakers heads away from the pile of money they get from lobbyists and interest groups? Couldn't these bills have been passed long before, and maybe have prevented the catalyst we're all reeling from?

Apparently not. I guess unless something shakes the fiber of most Americans, it's not going to make lawmakers flinch. They get enough money to send their children to whatever school they want. They are part of the privileged few who don't have to worry about getting paid enough to keep their family in the pink. And they only do what they should when their knees start a jerkin'.

So maybe we need some more extreme cases to get those lawmakers knees a jerkin', since they seem to have no reason to work otherwise.

Matt Worley occasionally has a bit of a knee jerk, but it usually only causes him to buy a lottery ticket.