My heart aches for the families of those murdered in Orlando, Fla.
I can’t imagine the terror that encompassed them in those early hours of Sunday morning.
Surely none of the injured or murdered thought it likely to be their last night on earth when they were getting ready to go out.
It’s never on my mind when I’m getting ready to meet up with friends and plan to have a great time.
We are amazingly lucky in this country to be free, for the most part, of such thoughts.
To not have to wonder if the restaurant we’re going to for brunch will be bombed or our place of worship, our shopping center, our parks shot up by someone hellbent on making a point through murder.
Few of us wake up wondering if today will be our last.
Good heavens, what a lousy way to start the day wondering, “Will I die today?”
The incomprehensible tragedy, the largest mass shooting in the United States, is horribly sad, but once again, like those that came before – the tragedy becomes the impetus for the division of this nation as we question and wonder what to do so that this never happens again?
How do we protect our future?
And, of course, our very favorite game – who do we blame?
We blame the shooter, a man whose name I will never use, and we blame his allegiance to radical Islam or ISIS. We blame his ability to get a gun, not just any gun, but a weapon capable of incredible destruction in less time than it takes for the authorities to arrive.
We blame the F.B.I. who interviewed the murderer more than once. We wonder how could they let him go?
We blame social media and how easy it is to espouse terrorism and not be held accountable for those words.
The problem is that we are blaming the very freedoms we hold most dear.
The F.B.I. did not have enough evidence to hold him. In this country, you can’t be arrested for having murderous, hateful thoughts in your heart. That is part of our freedom.
As is the right to own weapons.
Freedom of speech allows us to say things that the majority of reasonable thinkers know is wrong or stupid or dangerous. But you don’t get thrown in jail in this country for merely supporting radical terrorism.
Are we ready to give up some of our freedoms? I can honestly say I begin thinking that way after every, single, horrifying massacre in this country.
I wonder who else is on the internet espousing the warped views of ISIS and I want them deleted. But then I remember there are all sorts of people on the internet espousing views that I feel deep in my soul are wrong – racist, sexist, dangerous.
I find myself leaning toward monitors of social media. Currently most social media forms are quick to erase anything remotely associated with child pornography or the like, why not remove all comments related to the support of radical terrorist activities?
Do I get to be the arbiter? Who will make these rules?
Heaven knows, after listening to numerous debates and discussions between the two main parties of our political system, I don’t believe I can trust authorities to not abuse that sort of power.
I support gun rights and gun ownership – but I also believe that it should be very difficult to purchase and/or own an AR-15 or weapons of similar power. This the same weapon that was used to murder 20 children in Newton, Conn. The same weapon used in Aurora, Colo. to kill 12 people at a movie theater.
I don’t know how to fix the world we live in today without compromising on the freedoms that make this country great. But something has to change.
Thanks for putting my thoughts into eloquent words.
You get it. I wish everyone did.
Good column Brenda.
Unfortunately just like Timothy McVeigh, if someone is hell bent on killing people, they can and will find a way. Had the guy in Orlando chose McVeighs way, there would have been no survivors. Unfortunately there is no magical way of stopping these nuts. Banning weapons is not the answer. They are already out there. I certainly don’t claim to know the answer.
You’re right. Someone bent on destruction will find a way. I just can’t bring myself to believe there isn’t some kind of roadblock we can come to agreement on that will slow, if not stop, future massacres. I support the second amendment, but as a gun rights supporter, I also refuse to believe that impeding access to a weapon that has proven to be awesome in its power to kill many in a short time, is a bad thing. And I worry that our all or nothing attitude will keep us from finding a solution.
Thank you.
One thing that needs to be clear…..people like this guy in Orlando……terrorists…they will get the weapons they want to use in their attack. That is fact. All the gun laws will not stop them and their supporters from smuggling the desired weapon to the jihadist when the time comes. Banning the weapons might make it more difficult, but I doubt it will completely stop a crazed radical from getting his weapon to make his attack. The scope of this problem is much large than thinking a ban will cure it.
A ban won’t cure it. It won’t stop a crazed radical – nothing will. That’s pretty much a certainty when you get to the “crazed radical” part. But, if banning a weapon – one so powerful that a person using it can kill and wound multiple dozens before police – will “make it more difficult” – why would we not?
I agree with you Brenda, Those automatic guns used to be banned, I think they should be again. A gun with that firepower is only used to kill humans or to shoot ‘for fun’. I think they should be banned.
If we can’t agree on a ban, then let’s agree on something. Doing nothing is ridiculous. And thank you.
Why have any laws? Criminals are just going to break them.
We have laws. All sorts of laws and criminals break them every, single day. We aren’t going to get rid of criminals – at least not any time soon. But we can make it harder for them. We can make them work their tails off to accomplish devastation. And maybe that saves one or three people. That works for me.
Brenda, Excellent column as always. I am shocked and angry to find out that he was questioned a couple times by the FBI and was on their “radar.” This was also the case in the San Bernadino shooting where someone close to the murderer was also detained by officials a number of times. Is there any authority in this country that we can trust anymore?
Whatever we have been doing as a country about all this is definitely not working.
I agree with you about wondering if something could happen anywhere, anytime or anyplace. This is often in the back of my mind.
I think about it often, too. It almost feels impossible and so often it just becomes so much screaming at each other and trying to prove one side more right than the other, that I think calm common sense is long lost.
Assault rifles should not be available to the general public you don’t need that much firepower for hunting or protection! I’ve got a little 9m for my personal protection so I’m not anti gun,but as how to solve the problem without taking away our freedoms I don’t know, close our borders, don’t let people who want to kill us in? Treat the country like it was the White House don’t let anyone in unless invited? I don’t really know but it has to stop!
I’m so glad to know you are a gun owner (and I’m assuming a responsible one). Those of us who believe in gun rights are not all against the idea of a specific ban on a specific weapon. And I don’t even mean to endorse a ban – let’s just make it so incredibly, blasted, bloody hard to buy that authorities have plenty of time for background investigations. I truly believe if you want one bad enough, you will jump through the hoops to get it.
My sentiments exactly, Brenda. Assault weapons kill many at a fast speed. I do not believe and am outraged at the thought that if more people in that club had carried, there would’ve been fewer deaths. I believe just the opposite. I don’t want to relive the Wild West; do you?
Suggesting that if more people in the club had weapons there would have been fewer deaths is a ridiculously simple assumption. Many may legally get a weapon to carry, but an untrained owner in a life or death situation is just as likely to shoot an innocent as the villain. It’s never that simple.
I am not sure that would have worked.
If I was planning to attend the dance party, I would have left my gun at home. It’s illegal to carry in a venue that crowded or with the B.A.C. of someone dancing in public
Yeah, yeah ,yeah . . . they always say that “if someone is bent on doing violence, they will find a way”. But, that doesn’t mean we have to make it EASY for them do so, as we are doing now! If these murderers had to rely on a handgun and couldn’t get an assault weapon, the carnage would be much less. Brenda is absolutely correct, ” it should be very difficult to purchase and/or own an AR-15 or weapons of similar power.” That would not keep a good guy collector from having his collection. It wouldn’t prevent every incident, but it would reduce the carnage as such measures did to an immense extent in Australia – check it out!
I did check it out several months ago. It is a totally different and, (from my point of view) an intolerable situation. In Australia there are no “good guy collectors.” The law in fact prohibits (with a few exceptions) the private ownership of firearms.
Exactly.
First, an admission, I am an NRA life member.
I want you to know I thoroughly condemn the deranged acts of the the murderous son of a bitch in Orlando. My heart goes out to the family and friends of those we all lost.
The AR-15 is not an assault weapon. While it looks similar to the military version, it is not capable of fully automatic fire. Automatic weapons are already limited to those with very special licenses. However, there are several firearms out there that could do similar damage in the hands of a determined person. ( Imagine an autoloading or pump shotgun and buck shot in a crowded room.) So just banning “assault weapon look-a-likes” will not stop the problem.
Over the next few months the “gun banners” will go on a rampage and make every effort to foil the Second Amendment to the Constitution. I strongly hope they fail. I do not have a “fits all situations” answer. I don’t believe anyone has. I hope we can find a better way to get along.
I am a supporter of the Second Amendment. I support the right to own guns and would never support a ban on personally owned weapons. While I’m not a hunter, I support hunting, too.
And there are many gun owners and supports like me who are perfectly content with the idea of background checks and increasing the difficulty (if not banning) assault type weapons.
For ten years there was a ban on assault weapons and nobody tried to overrule the second amendment.
We can’t sit around saying “Well, I guess we can’t do anything cuz bad guys who want guns or weapons will just find a way to get them.” We have laws. Laws work. People break laws, that’s true. But we don’t throw out the laws.
And you’re right about pump shotguns and auto loading weapons, but I’m not in favor of eliminating all weapons with the capability to kill a human. If that happened we’d all be out of kitchen knives.
I think people are confused by the menacing looks of so called “assault weapons”. The proper term for an AR-15 is semi-automatic rifle. I have a .380 pistol with a 12 round magazine, I’d imagine 10 clips with hollow points in crowded club could be just as lethal. I’m an Army veteran and thankful I’ve never been involved in combat or any type conflict with weapons.
And today we learn of somebody in France killing an official and his wife with a knife.
But this was not the worst mass killing in US history. It may be the worst killing of white people. But there have been several mass killings of hundreds of black Americans.
FWIW “Gun control” laws were first introduced in the US as a way to keep blacks from having guns.
We have lots of problems, but guns is a minor one. A friend, who has been to prison, told me that 80-90% of people in prison were there because of drugs.
And are not more people killed by automobiles than guns?
Agreed! We definitely have a huge problem when it comes to prisons – a conversation for another day. Your point about this being the worst killing of white people is relevant, although, I thought I read the majority killed and injured in Orlando were Latino. And I wouldn’t call guns a minor problem – just a different one among the many we have.