Las Vegas
Here we go again -- another mass murder by a man with a high-powered weapon. I thought as I got older that I would understand better the way of human beings. I thought I would have the experience and wisdom to understand how the world works. I don't. The older I get, the less I understand what a human being is.
CNN says: "The gunman checked into the room days in advance, stocked a cache of weapons there and set up cameras inside his hotel suite and in the hallway." It took Stephen Paddock 9-11 minutes to kill 58-59 people enjoying a Jason Aldean show and in the process injure an additional 500+ individuals, using weapons rigged to be automatic. He possessed 47 guns, found in the hotel room and in the two homes he owned. This is beyond my comprehension. And apparently no one who knew Paddock had any idea he was planning this human destruction, had any idea that he was capable of this monstrous action.
After Sandy Hook, there was congressional blahblah about stopping the sale of guns by the mentally ill. How do you know if someone is mentally ill? Can you tell with certainty that I am not mentally ill? There are dark places in every human being. Most of us can stop or mitigate its manifestation, but people like Stephen Paddock and Adam Lanza let the dark take over, for whatever reason. There is no blocking the sale of weapons to people who look like you and me, but who harbor such incredible anger that they have to kill, and to kill as many as they can before they are permanently stopped. They are no less dangerous than serial murders like H.H. Holmes, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer.
I read that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has delayed the vote on the NRA-backed Silencer Bill (aka the Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act -- you gotta be kidding me!) out of respect for those killed and injured in Las Vegas. Sorry, Mr. Ryan, but I doubt your sincerity. The bill will return and Congress will pass it, and many people with guns will buy the silencers and not all of them will use the silencers to kill deer, elk, ducks, bears, and whatever else hunters feel deserves to die. Can you imagine how many more people in Las Vegas would have been murdered by Paddock if he had used a legally-bought silencer?
I would like to know when and how Congress jumped into bed with the NRA. What does the NRA give to a certain contingent of congressional members to secure their undying love and devotion to whatever this organization wants? Keith Olbermann, former MSNBC and ESPN journalist, 'said the twisting of the Second Amendment’s meaning in recent decades has provided an excuse for why the NRA “is not branded for what is it — a terrorist organization.”' http://bit.ly/2xfWpaB.
I don't understand the American obsession with guns. But as long as Americans believe that owning a gun (or 47 guns) is a God-and-Constitutional-given right, then I guess we'll just keep mourning the monumental loss of those killed by madmen, and then we'll go on with everyday life until the next massacre happens, and the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that . . . ad nauseum. Eventually, we'll begin living always looking over our shoulders in anticipation of the it's-gonna-happen-whether-we're-ready-or-not mass murder, and one of these times it could be you or me dying on that field of blood.
CNN says: "The gunman checked into the room days in advance, stocked a cache of weapons there and set up cameras inside his hotel suite and in the hallway." It took Stephen Paddock 9-11 minutes to kill 58-59 people enjoying a Jason Aldean show and in the process injure an additional 500+ individuals, using weapons rigged to be automatic. He possessed 47 guns, found in the hotel room and in the two homes he owned. This is beyond my comprehension. And apparently no one who knew Paddock had any idea he was planning this human destruction, had any idea that he was capable of this monstrous action.
After Sandy Hook, there was congressional blahblah about stopping the sale of guns by the mentally ill. How do you know if someone is mentally ill? Can you tell with certainty that I am not mentally ill? There are dark places in every human being. Most of us can stop or mitigate its manifestation, but people like Stephen Paddock and Adam Lanza let the dark take over, for whatever reason. There is no blocking the sale of weapons to people who look like you and me, but who harbor such incredible anger that they have to kill, and to kill as many as they can before they are permanently stopped. They are no less dangerous than serial murders like H.H. Holmes, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer.
I read that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has delayed the vote on the NRA-backed Silencer Bill (aka the Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act -- you gotta be kidding me!) out of respect for those killed and injured in Las Vegas. Sorry, Mr. Ryan, but I doubt your sincerity. The bill will return and Congress will pass it, and many people with guns will buy the silencers and not all of them will use the silencers to kill deer, elk, ducks, bears, and whatever else hunters feel deserves to die. Can you imagine how many more people in Las Vegas would have been murdered by Paddock if he had used a legally-bought silencer?
I would like to know when and how Congress jumped into bed with the NRA. What does the NRA give to a certain contingent of congressional members to secure their undying love and devotion to whatever this organization wants? Keith Olbermann, former MSNBC and ESPN journalist, 'said the twisting of the Second Amendment’s meaning in recent decades has provided an excuse for why the NRA “is not branded for what is it — a terrorist organization.”' http://bit.ly/2xfWpaB.
I don't understand the American obsession with guns. But as long as Americans believe that owning a gun (or 47 guns) is a God-and-Constitutional-given right, then I guess we'll just keep mourning the monumental loss of those killed by madmen, and then we'll go on with everyday life until the next massacre happens, and the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that . . . ad nauseum. Eventually, we'll begin living always looking over our shoulders in anticipation of the it's-gonna-happen-whether-we're-ready-or-not mass murder, and one of these times it could be you or me dying on that field of blood.
Comments