Joe Biden issued a new rallying cry for gun control in a televised address to the nation following the massacre of 19 primary school children and two adults in Texas.
The US President railed against the gun lobby and slammed the "sick" laws - or lack of them - that allow teenagers to buy assault weapons.
But, as in the wake of previous tragedies, there seemed little likelihood of any significant movement on legislation.
When he ran for the White House, Mr Biden made the issue a major part of his campaign, vowing to reduce the tens of thousands of annual gun deaths that plague America.
However, he and Democrats in Congress have not secured enough bipartisan support to pass bills for measures including background checks for gun purchases.
The latest tragedy will increase pressure from supporters of tougher gun laws for Mr Biden and his administration to make good on its promises.
With Mr Biden facing the lowest approval ratings of his presidency it opens up another new crisis in addition to soaring inflation and the Ukraine war.
The President himself was visibly angry as he spoke in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. He was told about the latest shooting on Air Force One as he returned from a five-day trip to Asia.
He said he spent the rest of the flight reflecting on why such tragedies happen with such less frequency in other countries.
"These kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world. Why?" he said.
"They have mental health problems, they have disputes, they have people who are lost.
"Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God's name is our backbone? When in God's name will we do what we know in our gut needs to be done?"
Mr Biden recalled how he had spoken nearly 10 years ago at Sandy Hook, where 20 primary school children and six staff were killed.
"Since then there have been over 900 incidents of gunfire on school grounds," he said. "I am sick and tired of it."
To introduce tougher gun laws Democrats need to reach a supermajority of 60 votes in the 100-seat US Senate, which is currently divided 50-50 with Republicans.
Small, rural states, where gun ownership is more prevalent, have disproportionate influence in the Senate because each state has two senators.
Last year, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed two bills to expand background checks on gun purchases. One bill would have closed a loophole for private and online sales. The other would have extended the review period for background checks.
Both then failed in the Senate because Democrats could not secure the 10 Republican votes needed to reach the supermajority.
There has also been no progress on Mr Biden's campaign pledge to ban assault weapons. With little gun control the United States is the most heavily armed society in the world, according to the Geneva-based research group Small Arms Survey.
Guns have overtaken car accidents as the biggest killer of children and teenagers, according to recent figures.
The research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed 45,222 people died from gun violence in the US in 2020.
There were 4,300 deaths among people aged under 19, up 30 per cent from the previous year. By comparison, 3,900 Americans under 19 died in car accidents in 2020.
Following the latest tragedy Chris Murphy, a Democrat senator representing Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook massacre took place, begged for new gun laws on the floor of the Senate.
He said: "We have another Sandy Hook on our hands. What are we doing? As kids run for their lives we are doing nothing. This isn't inevitable. These kids weren't unlucky. This only happens in this country and nowhere else.
"I am here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues, find a path forward here. Pass laws that make this less likely."
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was murdered in the Parkland school shooting in 2018, said he felt "shock, horror and anger" because "we know we're going to have this happen again, because we haven't done anything."
He added: "When my daughter was killed four years ago we had 300 million weapons in America, and now we're at 400 million plus.
"This isn't rocket science, this isn't hard to figure out, we are making it easier for those who want to kill."
Nicole Hockley, whose six-year-old son Dylan was killed at Sandy Hook, said: "People said after Sandy Hook that would be rock bottom. Yet here we are again nearly 10 years later. I don't know how much more our country can take."
This weekend the National Rifle Association is holding its convention in Houston, Texas. Senior Republican figures including Donald Trump, Texas senator Ted Cruz, and Texas governor Greg Abbott are due to speak.
In the wake of Tuesday's shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, the state's Attorney General Ken Paxton said, rather than introducing restrictive gun laws, teachers should be armed.
He said: "We can’t stop bad people from doing bad things. If they violate murder laws they’re not going to follow gun laws. I never understood that argument."
He added: "The reality is we don’t have the resources to have law enforcement at every school. It takes time for law enforcement, no matter how prepared, no matter how good they are to get there.
"So having the right training for some of these people at the school [teachers] is the best hope."
Mr Paxton also said schools should have only one "point of entry" making it more difficult for shooters to get inside.
Tom Tillis, a Republican US senator from North Carolina, said Mr Biden and Democrats should not try to impinge on Americans' Second Amendment right to bear arms.
He said the shooting in Texas was "horrible" but Democrats should avoid the "reflexive reaction' that "this could all be solved by not having guns in anyone's hands."