Good Morning.
I've been reading the commentary on social media regarding the tragedy in Las Vegas, and some of it is difficult to stomach. Not a word about the victims who lost their lives in the worst mass shooting in American history. Not a word about the injured, over five hundred in number, some of whom may not make it and the rest of whom will never fully recover from what happened to them. Not even a word about the first responders who risked life and limb to save people. Nope, there's a bunch of folks who are only worried that this terrible event will reopen the debate about guns and they're not about to have any discussion whatsoever. It's not enough to go pheasant hunting or have a handgun in the home for protection. Anybody should be able to buy any form of weapon, even the kind whose only purpose is to mow down as many human beings in as short a time as possible.
The latest cause of the guns for everyone crowd is making sure Congress passes legislation to allow silencers. During the fateful country music festival in Vegas, people were alerted to the attack by the sound of the rapid-fire discharge of bullets into their midst and some were able to hit the ground or hide under a truck and even in a refrigeration cooler. One guy on Facebook wasn't moved to reconsider his support for silencers, however. He said it wouldn't have mattered if people couldn't hear the arsenal of fully-automatic weaponry being unloaded on them because all that blood would have shortly made them aware that something was happening.
We got a real mess, folks. It's true that if someone is determined to take out two or three dozen people, he will build a bomb or find another way to kill if he can't get his hands on a military-style assault weapon., but it's at least a reasonable idea that we should do whatever we can to stop all this carnage, if only to send a message that we value human life. The problem is there are no rules about how we treat people anymore, at least no rules that cannot be violated at whim. More than a few among us act like animals in virtually every setting, public and private, and don't give a rip who they offend with their behavior. They're convinced they should be able to blow down the interstate at 100 m.p.h. and swear like a pirate if a steak isn't done to their liking. They should be able to scream at the coach or the referee, disrupt two hundred passengers on an airplane, and bully anyone who gets in their way.
The rage out there is red-hot nuts. Most of it explodes through four-letter words or a full beer can hurled against a wall or the deliberate absence of a muffler until the cops intervene in the interest of world peace and you sure don't wanna be anywhere near that situation. Such unbridled seething is so out of control, however, and has colored our culture so thoroughly, that for some, the way to square things, so to speak, is to murder innocent people for any reason at all. And sad to say, the folks on a rampage aren't likely to seek mental health care or spiritual counseling. That's for those of us who are trying to survive them.
Best regards,
Elisabeth
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