So it seems the National Rifle Association’s bromide often trotted out at times like this — “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” — needs to be calibrated. We now have this equally precise, as well as proven, measure: In Kansas City, 800 good guys with guns were no match for two bad guys with guns.

Yes, another mass shooting, this time in Kansas City, Mo., at a celebration of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory. Hey, that was some game, huh? A thrilling victory for Kansas City. I wonder what was going on with Travis Kelce and Coach Andy Reid. Do you think Taylor Swift got enough airtime? Shame about the shooting. I’m sure it will get the obligatory lead on the evening news; I just hope it won’t cut into “Jeopardy!”

Oh, before I forget: “Thoughts and prayers.” That’s always effective. Let’s try that again.

If Congress really wanted to keep guns out of the hands of future killers, it could. But why bother when there are thoughts and prayers? Yes, another mass shooting. So inconvenient.

That the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration resulted from a squabble that turned deadly is a clear example of where gun controls could be effective.

Gun rights groups have long argued that because of the number of guns in circulation, it is impossible to keep the weapons out of the hands of terrorists or other criminals. And that might well be the case. But if the Kansas City, Mo., incident is the result of an argument between ordinary people, it’s the type of catastrophe that could be avoided with common-sense controls.

Of the more than 40,000 annual U.S. deaths by firearms last year, about 650 were a product of mass shootings. So, although the intentional mass shootings get our attention, most gun deaths besides suicides are more likely the result of road rage, an argument in a bar or some other altercation — the kind of things that used to result in someone being punched in the nose. Those are precisely the casualties that could be prevented with responsible concealed-carry laws — the ones the NRA refuses to address. Instead, it advocates unlimited carry allowances by focusing on the ineffectiveness that regulations would have for keeping guns away from criminals. That’s the argument it tends to win.

And, unfortunately, we’re all in a more dangerous place for it.

Michael Filippell, Annapolis

We have long stopped having serious conversations about gun violence and the proliferation of weapons in this nation. And the tragedy at the Kansas City, Mo., parade for the Super Bowl champions will soon be but an asterisk in a sea of blood and forgotten deaths.

I remember writing after Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shot, after the massacre of 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn., after so many incidents that should have been the line in the sand. But there is no line in the United States.

Don’t tell me the National Rifle Association has been mortally wounded and there is growing support for gun control. This was the 25th mass shooting in the Kansas City area in the past five years. So far this year, there have been 54 mass shootings in this country, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The fact is the United States is a gun death waiting to happen. At a supermarket or a Super Bowl parade. In a mall in your town or a school in mine. In a domestic dispute or a domestic terrorist attack. We live in a land that has surrendered to the notion that we are under siege. And the truth is, we are. Created by our own prejudices, hatreds, paranoia and stupidity.

We cheered a great victory. And mourned our collective, continuing tragic loss. America the beautiful. And the ugly.

Robert S. Nussbaum, Fort Lee, N.J.

There was only one sports story in the United States last week: the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade.

What a terrible, outrageous blotch on the American landscape. It happened at a Super Bowl victory parade, for heaven’s sake.

We have heard the usual outpouring of prayers and thoughts and “our hearts go out,” along with all the other tired, useless reactions to America’s gun violence. Enough of that.

Instead, maybe the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell, all the elite-connected owners, together with all the players with their social media accounts, can bring all that combined leverage and influence to bear to do something at the national level to address this scourge of gun violence.

Daniel Keifer, Abington, Pa.