What I Don't Want to Hear After Las Vegas
I'm leaving the television off tonight. I don't want to hear about the perpetrator of the Las Vegas shootings, and how he planned it all out in great detail, and how many guns he had and rounds of ammunition her fired off. I don't want to hear about his girlfriend, and what she did or did not know, and how she was guilty or not guilty, and how nobody suspected anything, and how he was just a normal guy who happened to own a stockpile of firearms and modified them so he could kill and maim hundreds of people in a matter of minutes.
I also don't want to hear about the innocent lives that were lost, and the fatherless and motherless children that must now spend the rest of the lives without their parent, and the mothers who lost sons, and the wives who lost husbands, and the communities that the victims had contributed so much to and how much they will be missed. I don't want to hear about how kind and loving they were and how they never did anything to deserve being mowed down and shot like fish in a barrel.
I don't want to hear how the investigators are looking for answers and trying to find the motive. (What does it matter? What possible motive could there be besides insanity?) And how they are combing through details of the lives of countless people to understand how and why this happened, and to figure out what would lead an otherwise "normal" person to want to cause so much death and dismay in the lives of so many people he has never met.
And I don't want to hear that our president commends all the first responders for doing such great jobs, and how it was a miracle that happened there that night. (What kins of miracle causes the deaths of 58 people and injuring of so many more?)
I also don't want to hear about the shrines that have popped up in Las Vegas and how people are sad but things are returning to normal, and the casinos are open again, and the tourists are coming back out of hiding.
The only thing I want to hear is the one thing they are not talking about. I want to hear that our President and Congress will do whatever it takes, move heaven and earth, pull out all the stops, put politics aside, and start tonight to pass new gun laws that will prevent ordinary citizens from owning automatic or semi-automatic weapons and silencers; that will prevent sale of items that allow people to modify guns and turn them into automatic fast firing killing machines; that will double down on background checks and limit the amount of guns or ammunition that any one person can possess; that will prevent the mentally ill from owning firearms, that will protect our citizens and our children from the fear of the next mass shooting. I don't want to hear how sorry people are and what a tragedy this was. I want to hear what somebody is going to do to stop this insanity in our country. I want to hear that we are following the lead of Australia and the UK who have passed laws that have greatly reduced the amount of incidents like this in their countries. I want to hear that the rights of our citizens to live in peace and without fear is more important than the rights of killers who want to make names for themselves. That, my friend, is the only thing I really want to hear, but the silence is deafening.
I also don't want to hear about the innocent lives that were lost, and the fatherless and motherless children that must now spend the rest of the lives without their parent, and the mothers who lost sons, and the wives who lost husbands, and the communities that the victims had contributed so much to and how much they will be missed. I don't want to hear about how kind and loving they were and how they never did anything to deserve being mowed down and shot like fish in a barrel.
I don't want to hear how the investigators are looking for answers and trying to find the motive. (What does it matter? What possible motive could there be besides insanity?) And how they are combing through details of the lives of countless people to understand how and why this happened, and to figure out what would lead an otherwise "normal" person to want to cause so much death and dismay in the lives of so many people he has never met.
And I don't want to hear that our president commends all the first responders for doing such great jobs, and how it was a miracle that happened there that night. (What kins of miracle causes the deaths of 58 people and injuring of so many more?)
I also don't want to hear about the shrines that have popped up in Las Vegas and how people are sad but things are returning to normal, and the casinos are open again, and the tourists are coming back out of hiding.
The only thing I want to hear is the one thing they are not talking about. I want to hear that our President and Congress will do whatever it takes, move heaven and earth, pull out all the stops, put politics aside, and start tonight to pass new gun laws that will prevent ordinary citizens from owning automatic or semi-automatic weapons and silencers; that will prevent sale of items that allow people to modify guns and turn them into automatic fast firing killing machines; that will double down on background checks and limit the amount of guns or ammunition that any one person can possess; that will prevent the mentally ill from owning firearms, that will protect our citizens and our children from the fear of the next mass shooting. I don't want to hear how sorry people are and what a tragedy this was. I want to hear what somebody is going to do to stop this insanity in our country. I want to hear that we are following the lead of Australia and the UK who have passed laws that have greatly reduced the amount of incidents like this in their countries. I want to hear that the rights of our citizens to live in peace and without fear is more important than the rights of killers who want to make names for themselves. That, my friend, is the only thing I really want to hear, but the silence is deafening.
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