On June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida, an unspeakable horror took place. 49 dead. 53 wounded. Hundreds more daily haunted by the still-vivid memory of gunfire ripping through a nightclub, repeating, terror, fear, chaos. And now we all know that the killer spent time—took the time—to announce his evil deed on a cell phone, mid-massacre. With cold calculation, during his nearly three-hour rampage, he made it a point to call and proclaim his deed and his allegiance to the Islamic State in a 50-second call to a shocked 911 operator.
Cold. Purposeful. Cruel.
The day after the shooting, CNN reported the shooter pledged ISIS allegiance. Today, June 21, USA Today echoes this fact, quoting House Speaker Paul Ryan: “We know the shooter was a radial Islamist extremist inspired by ISIS.”
FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ron Hopper described the shooter’s tone as “chilling, calm and deliberate,” reports USA Today in the same June 21 article.
The facts are very clear.
- One cold-blooded 29-year-old killer, Omar Mateen, is to blame for the mass murders.
- This particular cold-blooded mass murderer publicly announced that his horrific actions were inspired by ISIS.
- Radical Islamic terrorists consistently find a way to publicly proclaim that their murderous intent is inspired by ISIS (or some other radical Islamic group); it is part of their belief system. Every. Single. Time.
Those are the facts. Pure and simple… and horrible.
This mass murder was not—is not—about guns.
In fact, this mass murder would have been carried out with illegal guns if guns had been outlawed at the time, or with bombs or with some other device. This mass murder at the hands of this radical 29-year-old Muslim named Omar Mateen would have happened regardless of guns being outlawed. (Remember the Paris attack, in a region where guns are outlawed?!)
This violence would have occurred regardless of our U.S. Constitutional Second Amendment.
And it was not about gays. This criminal mass murderer—or any other like him—could have just as easily targeted Americans, Jews, Christians, businessmen or a sports team, as has been proven from a quick look at similar attacks worldwide.
And our grief as a nation is not about homosexuals being targeted. Our grief as a nation is a healthy reaction to the insane slaughter of innocent human life, grief expressed in solidarity by human beings sharing a common good and common bond as humans.
It’s evidence that at some gut level people acknowledge the sanctity and dignity and inestimable worth of each individual human life. Period.
One murderous criminal, inspired by a belief system known for inspiring similar terrorists acts worldwide, is guilty. And if there’d been no guns to obtain legally, he’d have used bombs. Or, he’d have used guns anyway, obtained illegally.
Yet mainstream news reporters, pundits, and major political figures have immediately and continuously attempted to shape this tragedy—from the moment it was breaking news—in such a way that serves these reporters’ and politician’s political agendas.
We continue to hear on the news and from our elected politicians how guns need to be outlawed, violating our Second Amendment rights as U.S. citizens. Misplaced outrage at guns — not criminals!
Instead of merely telling the facts, or expressing empathy, sorrow, shock at the carnage, the tragedy, the suffering victims and the families and friends affected… Instead of expressing utter disgust and repudiation for the cold-blooded criminal who inflicted such carnage which, you’d think, would be common sense. Instead of facts and candor, most mainstream reporters, politicians and pundits, amid their expressions of sorrow and empathy, make it a point to manipulate the facts to serve their agendas of “gun control,” or “victimization of gays.”
Not calling things what they truly are, candidly, is—in the long run— nearly as devastating to a healthy society as allowing mass murders to run around killing people. In neither instance can citizens feel (or be) truly safe.
In twisting facts to accommodate pre-conceived “agendas,” it becomes impossible to clearly define problems, and therefore impossible to solve problems.
Even worse, it becomes impossible to aggressively prevent similar problems in the future.