News, yet again, that a mass shooting took place leaves most of us speechless.
Any conversations we have had on the subject usually lead to more questions than answers. What the hell is going on in this world?
Smug broadcasters this side of the border tend to write these events off as a case of easy access to guns. Democrats too feel comfortable with that assertion – it’s all about the guns.
We agree with that to a point, but the reality is the horse is already out of the barn and long gone. There are almost as many guns in the United States as there are people.
The right to bear arms is contained in their Constitution as a fundamental ideal – the right for the populace to rise up should its government go too far astray or govern in such a way as to limit the freedoms of American citizens.
It is hard to believe the founding fathers contemplated for a moment, that such an ideal would include weapons of such killing power that in a matter of seconds, dozens of lives could be shattered.
Previous bills to limit access to assault rifles were allowed to lapse – another curious aspect of the perfunctory mindset that accepts the concept of “arms” as almost anything goes.
The next presidential election this fall is where two profoundly different outlooks on the nation’s issues will be judged and voted upon.
The current administration has been reticent to engage in much straight talk about extremism and terrorism. It’s a strategy of not wishing to offend anyone, but surely at some point someone needs to address the elephant in the room. Nothing makes it okay to murder others in the name of a religion or some other warped world view.
This too will show up in the fall election, as two opposite approaches, by two very different candidates, seek votes for president.
On one hand there is the continuation of the current administration with Hillary Clinton. On the other hand is Donald Trump with a decidedly different approach. This decision is for the Americans to resolve, but the fallout from either choice remains on our doorstep, arguably on the threshold of the free world.
As Sunday draws near, we cannot help but feel sympathy for 49 fathers who, having nurtured and cared for their children – keeping them safe from the world around them until this point – will not be greeted with a smile or hug this father’s day. Instead those dads face a senseless loss, along with the rest of their family and friends.
It’s heartbreaking.
