As I write this, we’re barely in the afterglow of a massive shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. At least 50 are dead, 53 injured, and the lone shooter, a confirmed Muslim who was armed to the teeth, is dead.
The FBI has already said that the shooter has “leanings” towards radical Islamist Terror. For the FBI to say that so soon, means it’s true. Remember how long it took in San Bernardino? For days that was a “workplace shooting,” until it was confirmed they had known otherwise from the start.
So the question now becomes how this nation reacts, both amongst our leaders, our media and our citizenry.
Will we confront, finally, the true threat that is imminent to our way of life, which is Radical Islam? Or will we make this about guns and/or hatred towards the gay lifestyle?
The early indications are that we will make it about guns.
Throughout the Sunday morning news programs, pundit after pundit brushed aside whether or not the motive was terror, and instead said things like Tom Brokaw did on “Meet the Press,” when he said “what if it’s not terror related? We have to confront the access to guns in this country.”
To call that statement idiotic is to insult idiocy. To brush aside the true motive to further your own agenda is beyond lunacy. The reason is simple; IF the true motive is Radical Terrorism, then the discussion ends there, for terrorists will not follow laws put in place to restrict our access to guns, therefore we must confront the actual threat. Also, if we now truly have U.S. citizens who are radicalizing themselves, the last thing we should do is disarm or restrict the ability of others to be armed and protect themselves.
It was far beyond Brokaw, however.
Pundit after pundit reported and commented on the story not as a sign of the reach of ISIS and/or their ideology, but rather about America’s access to guns. Constantly, across all Sunday morning news programs, the phrase “it doesn’t matter what the motivation was,” was uttered. Pete Williams of NBC news said that whether this is an act of Domestic Terrorism (hate crime), or whether it’s an act of International Terrorism is simply a “technicality.” Are you kidding me with this?
On the other side of the spectrum, without missing a beat, the radical gun advocates who allow themselves to get roped into these strawman debates began shouting Trump-isms like “things would have gone differently if someone in that club had a gun,” which of course, is a provably untrue statement that misses the point and allows the debate to become about guns, when what we should be focused on is the link to terrorism.
As for it being a “hate crime,” that too misses the point since Radical Islamists do, in fact, hate everyone, including gay people. They are literally throwing known homosexuals off of buildings in the Middle East when ISIS finds them. It’s a given that they hate gays. This wasn’t about homosexuality, it was about an all out war on the United States of America.
We’ll see how the debate plays out but so far, early on, the gun people, on both sides, are controlling the debate and it’s the wrong argument. This is like catching your child with his hand in the cookie jar and focusing on the type of cookies you’re buying rather than the behavior.
Last week, the 101st ISIS suspect in the United States of America was arrested by the FBI. 101 known people have been found with links to radical terror within our borders…how many others do you guess exist that we haven’t caught? Another 100? 1,000?
The FBI currently estimates that there are at least 5,000 radicalized people within our borders. Maybe we should be looking for them rather than looking at the 2nd amendment. Just a thought.
