Authorities say Gavin Long, who shot and killed three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, La., on Sunday morning was an angry and disturbed former Marine who used an Israeli-made semi-automatic rifle to ambush officers. In other words, a nut with a gun.

Same thing for Micah X. Johnson, who shot and killed five Dallas officers on July 7. Angry and disturbed. AR-15.

Same thing for Omar Mateen. Angry and disturbed. Killed 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando on June 12. Upgraded AR-15 variant and Glock pistol.

San Bernardino, Calif.; Charleston, S.C.; Newtown, Conn.; Aurora, Colo., and dozens of other places. Same thing. Angry and disturbed men with high-powered weapons.

We can't fix crazy. Even if the mental health system were better, and it should be, the net's not wide enough to deter all of these angry and disturbed men. We can't fix all the issues they're angry about: racism, hatred of cops, religious fanaticism and whatever other way psychosis manifests itself.

Guns we can fix, at least partially. We could make it harder for disturbed individuals to get them. We could limit access to high-powered weapons and ammunition that kill innocent people and can defeat tactical vests worn by police officers.

The one thing we could fix, we won't. The gun lobby and craven politicians won't let us.

Consider the scenes playing out in downtown Cleveland this week. Inside the Quicken Loans Arena, delegates and guests at the Republican National Convention are relatively safe. Outside the Secret Service's security perimeter, people of various political stripes are openly carrying weapons. They have holsters on their hips and long rifles in their arms.

How would you like to be a Cleveland cop? A cop like Stephen Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association.

"We are constitutional law enforcement, we love the Constitution, support it and defend it, but you can't go into a crowded theater and scream fire," Loomis said, asking that the open-carry law be suspended. "And that's exactly what they're doing by bringing those guns down there." Dallas police made similar complaints about open-carry marchers with AR-15s who distracted officers during the July 7 shootout.

A spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich said the governor isn't empowered "to arbitrarily suspend federal and state constitutional rights or state laws as suggested."

The part about "federal and state constitutional rights" is bogus. The Supreme Court says the Second Amendment means individuals can own weapons. It doesn't say they can carry them, concealed or openly. Local governments have the right to impose restrictions. Like Missouri, Ohio chooses not to.

Congress and most state governments have chosen to let the gun lobby write gun laws, in defiance of public sentiment. Those officers in Baton Rouge paid for that mistake. They won't be the last.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH

Photo credit: Preston Austin