Two extraordinary killing sprees were in the news this week, one in Alabama and one in Germany. But when covering the U.S. massacre, the press won't mention gun control. Literally. A search of Nexis uncovered almost no references to “gun control” in any print or television reports about the Alabama shooting rampage, which was powered by military-style assault weapons, and which left 11 people dead.

To highlight the allergic reaction the U.S. press has to even mentioning gun control in the wake of increasingly frequent killing sprees, read the leads to recent WSJ articles about the Alabama massacre and the one at a Germany school.

Here [emphasis added]:

A shooting rampage that began in a southern German school on Wednesday and left 16 dead is likely to stoke fresh debate in Europe about gun control and public security.

And here:

A 28-year-old man, who lived with his mother and whose father said was never in trouble, wrote a hate list and set out on a killing spree that in two hours claimed 11 lives, including his mother's and grandmother's, as well as his own.

Of course the shooting rampage in Germany is bound to spark “fresh debate” about gun control. (It only makes sense, right?) But in America? Fat chance. In part, because the media -- bullied by the NRA, I think -- have become allergic to the topic.