I'm angry

Sandy Hook.....Aurora.....Boston.....San Bernadino......Orlando......

Here we are, almost six months since the San Bernadino massacre, and we as a nation are reeling after yet another terrorist attack, this time in the city of Disney; that itself is an anomaly:  terrorist attack and Disney.  We are not safe in school; we are not safe in a movie theater; we are not safe running; we are not safe at work Christmas parties; we are not safe in clubs.  We are not safe anywhere.

I am angry...angry at a society that cares more for the individual's "right to bear arms" than the murder of innocent people doing what each of us does:  going to school, going to the movies, running, attending parties, going to clubs.  Every one of the above massacres (except Boston) have one thing in common:  assault weapons.  I am angry.  I want someone to explain to me why any American needs the right to own assault weapons.  I'm waiting.  Are you going to use it to hunt?  Are you going to strap it at your waist in your holster while you go into the grocery store or into church? 

I am angry.  Angry that anyone who passes a background check can buy assault weapons...In each massacre where an assault weapon was used, if the killer had not had it, more people would have lived.  There would have been a better chance of victims getting away or tackling the shooter.  It.just.makes.sense.  Having assault weapons makes.no.sense.

I am angry.  Angry at the virtual hush from the "Christian" community in the wake of the Orlando
massacre.  While he did ask for prayer for Orlando on his Facebook page, Franklin Graham, son of Billy, couldn't resist politicizing the situation in a scathing, hate-filled rant at his President: 


"I appreciate President Barack Obama speaking to the nation yesterday in the wake of the Orlando massacre. He was right in saying that this tragic shooting was an act of terror and hate. But why didn’t he say it was an act of radical Islamic terrorism? Mr. President, with all due respect, don't forget Fort Hood; don't forget the Boston Marathon; don't forget San Bernardino; and don’t forget 9/11. What do they all have in common? They were all Islamic terrorists carrying out th..."  Franklin Graham's Facebook post.

Why, why can't he leave politics and his hatred of the President out of this?  Notice he omitted Sandy Hook, Oklahoma City, and Aurora.  Why?  Those were all acts of terrorism as well.  Make no mistake about it.  But.....they were committed by homegrown white males.....not radical Islamists.  Terrorism is terrorism, people.  Whether committed by a good ol' white boy with an arsenal or a radical Muslim, the massacres ended the same way:  death of innocents.  Yes, I am angry.

I am angry.  Angry at the do-nothing Republicans offering their obligatory "for the camera" moment of silence yesterday in Congress. (As a recovering Republican, I have license to criticize.)  I am angry at the politicians who come before the cameras after every massacre and say, "We need to do something."  Put.your.money.where.your.mouth.is.  We need gun reform in this country.  I don't have all the answers, but I know where to begin:  Ban assault weapons.  It would be a beginning.  I don't want to hear the namby-pamby argument that "Guns don't kill people; people kill people."  We don't have to make it easy for the next gunman to take out 50 or 100 people.  At some point, rational heads have to prevail.  After 9/11 the airline industry made changes that made flying safer, and it harmed no American in doing so.   Maybe we need to see the pictures of the carnage caused by assault weapons.  Would that make a difference?  There is zero need for civilians to own assault weapons.  Zero.  Period.

When do we act?  When do we truly do something?  Is banning Muslims, as Donald Trump suggests, the answer?  You tell me---Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Adam Lanza, James Holmes----were they radical Muslims?