Horrible. Unthinkable. Shocking. These are some of the words that are going to be flying around headlines and social media for the foreseeable future. The Orlando shootings last Sunday are the deadliest in U.S. history.

Unfortunately, nothing will come of these shootings. We'll go through the motions for a while and then collectively pretend everything's back to normal.

I know this because I live 15 minutes away from Sandy Hook. I know this because my community suffered through the same intense grieving process that Orlando must now go through. I know this because I live in America, which has suffered 998 mass shootings since Dec. 14, 2012. There's a script we follow to the letter, and we're about to go through it again.

1. "Thoughts and prayers."

That's the typical response you'll see on Twitter from Republicans. But I have to ask, what exactly are you thinking and praying for? It can't be an end to violence because that's exactly what they advocate with their gun-friendly policies. It isn't an end to LGBT hate crimes because Republicans regularly block those as well.

And if you say anything during this stage, you're politicizing the issue. So feel free to think and pray, but don't you dare talk about what you're thinking or praying about.

2. Blame anything else then the problem.

Columbine? Violent video games like "Doom." Virginia Tech? It’s all about mental health. Sandy Hook? That’s what happens when you take prayer out of schools.

In the early 1900s, anarchists shot President McKinley and bombed Wall Street. Over a century later, we don't have radical anarchists, but we still have violence.

We focus on motive or location, but the result is always the same. It doesn't matter if you're an ISIS lone wolf or a neo-Nazi. It doesn't matter if you're in a sleepy town in Connecticut or a big city in Florida. The result is always the same. Scores of dead people and a smoking gun. Regardless of what issue is tacked onto the shooting, there always be another shooting waiting to happen.

3. Do absolutely nothing (or worse).

This picture says it all. Twenty-three children shot dead in their classroom, and some people think we should have more guns. How horrific does a shooting have to be for these people to consider even a modicum of gun control?

If two dozen dead first graders aren't enough to change our gun culture, I don't know what the fuck will.

We have blood on our hands. The blood of 15 high school students. The blood of 32 college students. The blood of 20 elementary school students. The blood of nine African-American churchgoers. And now the blood of 50 (and possibly more) LGBT people.

But we still refuse the address the problem. Unless we get to the root cause of the issue and do something about our access to deadly weapons, this will happen again. And again. And again.