Washington: At 51, Steve Scalise might have thought of hanging up his baseball mitt.
It was the Louisiana congressman's love of the game that came between Americans and the massacre of their nightmares, possibly dozens of congressmen being mowed down by a gunman near Washington early on Wednesday.
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Scalise was among the five wounded when a lone gunman opened fire on 20 or more Republican congressmen engaging in their last practice session before Thursday's scheduled annual charity fundraiser against Democratic opponents in Washington.
But as majority whip in the House, Scalise has a 24/7-security detail – two members of which were wounded as they took down the gunman, who was identified in media reports as James Hodgkinson, "a passionate[ly] progressive union tradesman".
Hodgkinson was described as a "quiet guy" who was "very mellow, very reserved", who had mixed with Democratic presidential would-be candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign crew in Iowa last year.
Republican Senator Rand Paul, also at the baseball field in suburban Alexandria, said: "Many people likely would have died this morning if not for the bravery of the Capitol Police – my thanks to them are inadequate but heartfelt. They never hesitated to put their lives on the line to save everyone. Please pray for those who were injured."
Recounting how he could see the shooter as 50 or 60 shots were fired, Paul said: "Everyone probably would have died…by him [Scalise] being there... It would have been a massacre. … We had no weapons, no place to hide."
Scalise's name will now be added to a disturbing list that speaks to the failure of gun control efforts in the US – that's the roll of 14 members of Congress who have been killed, and almost a dozen more who have been injured in gun violence.
![Steve Scalise, the majority whip of the US House of Representatives, was shot at a baseball field in Virginia when a ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170617005019im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/r/c/e/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwrdr2.png/1497536023695.jpg)
But appalling as those statistics are, they pale in comparison to the blood-soaked statistics on gun violence in a country that stands apart in the world in its love affair with private gun ownership and its inability to agree on sensible gun control – even as massacre tallies mount in a country in which more than 300 million weapons are in private hands.
In 2015, there were 372 mass-shootings in the US, in which 475 people died and almost 1900 were wounded. In the same year, there were 64 school shootings; and all up, more than 13,000 people died and almost 29,000 were wounded, according to the grand tallies of that year's gun violence.
![A vehicle at the scene in Alexandria is seen with bullet holes in it.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170617005019im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/r/d/5/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwrdr2.png/1497536023695.jpg)
The Alexandria attack was the 53rd in 18 months in the US, in which five people had been wounded.
Within minutes of Wednesday's attack, the customary handwringing started – first on social media.
![Representative Mo Brooks after House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana was shot by a rifle-wielding gunman.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170617005019im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/r/d/6/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwrdr2.png/1497536023695.jpg)
Gun enthusiasts resorted to the "thank God there were good men with guns" at the scene – which ignores the fact that the "good men" were members of the Capitol Police and that, obviously, there also was a bad man with a gun at the baseball field.
Similarly, as arguments for gun control resurfaced, those who made them were rebuked for "politicising" the attack.
![The gunman James T. Hodgkinson was described as quiet and 'very mellow, very reserved'.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170617005019im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/r/d/p/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwrdr2.png/1497536023695.jpg)
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat whose turf includes Alexandria where the attack unfolded, leapt straight into the debate: "This is not what today is about, but we have too many guns on the street."
Pressed on the safety of politicians, he opted for the bigger problem of gun violence – "we worry about this every day for all our citizens".
Against the backdrop of a simmering debate over a summer theatre production, in which Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is performed in Manhattan's Central Park – with the character of Caesar based on Donald Trump, the president's son Donald Trump Jnr tweeted: "Events like today are EXACTLY why we took issue with NY elites glorifying the assassination of our President."
The answer for Georgia GOP congressman Barry Loudermilk, who was at the sports field when the shooting started, was more guns – he called for Congress to allow its members to carry weapons.
"If this had happened in Georgia, he wouldn't have gotten too far," Loudermilk told reporters Wednesday at the Capitol.
"I had a staff member who was in his car maybe 20 yards behind the shooter, who was pinned in his car, who back in Georgia carries a 9-millimetre in his car ... He had a clear shot at him. But here, we're not allowed to carry any weapons here."
Gun laws are tight in DC, but in Virginia, where the sports field is located, they can be carried openly, without a permit; or concealed with a permit.
Loudermilk made his case: "Most of us are here in DC, so how do you have the gun here and just transport it to Virginia?" Loudermilk said when Virginia's laws were pointed out. "I think we need to look at some kind of reciprocity for members here."
Congressman Sean Duffy, a Republican from Wisconsin, called for Americans to reflect on the anger in the country and coming from the media, and to reconsider their representations of violence against elected officials, especially against Republicans.
"Basically, there's a segment of the media that thinks it's okay to talk about violence against Republicans, and they laugh it off and think it's funny stuff. Here, there's been an escalation – you have members of Congress run off the road after town halls, you have members of Congress rushed after town halls, people throwing things at their chest. There's a level of disrespect and violence that continues to escalate.
"Now, a member of Congress has been shot. I think it's incumbent, not just on Republicans but Democrats, to reflect upon what's the language that we use? And what's the message that we send to the rest of the country about how we should treat people who are duly elected to serve?"