There was never any question but that we would have to address school shootings without reference to guns.

"You've outlawed simple prayer.

"Now gunshots fill our classrooms and precious children die . . .

"You regulate restrictive law through legislative creed, and yet you failed to understand that God is what we need."

Until that point, Bush had been having trouble finding his voice on school shootings, which one of his own panelists asserted could number as high as 600 over the past six years. He labeled the violence "inexplissible," apparently merging "inexplicable" and "inexpressible." And he had to guide the discussion away from one panelist's remark about "computer predators" -- a dangerous topic during the Mark Foley scandal.

But on hearing Scott's "unbelievably eloquent testimony," Bush brightened considerably.

Guns Are in Schools but Not in the President's Vocabulary
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; A02

President Bush has always been a disciplined man, but yesterday he set a new standard for self-control: He moderated an hour-long discussion about the rash of school shootings in the past week without once mentioning the word "guns."

First lady Laura Bush was nearly as good, giving a seven-minute speech at yesterday's White House Conference on School Safety without mentioning guns. Two longtime aides, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, deftly led hours of panels at the National 4-H building in Chevy Chase with only a few glancing references to weapons.

This was no misfire. The White House, hastily arranging yesterday's forum to react to shootings over the past fortnight at schools in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Wisconsin and Missouri, neglected to invite any gun-control advocates. In fact, how the killers had carried out their deeds might have remained a mystery if 19-year-old twin brothers Theo and Niko Milonopoulos hadn't infiltrated the gathering.

Managing to get in front of a microphone during question time, Theo pointed out to Gonzales that "the common denominator in the rash of school shootings" has been access to high-powered guns. He asked what could be done to reduce the spread of such weapons "in light of the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban?"

"Assault weapons," Gonzales repeated. Some in the audience chuckled as he looked to see who on the panel would take the question.

The attorney general decided to do it himself. "Obviously, kids shouldn't have access," he granted, before quickly adding that there is no need for new laws. "We need to make sure those who break the laws are prosecuted," he said.

"There's a big elephant in the room and it's gun control," Niko observed after the panel ended.