Orlando Shooting Requires a Call for Sanity and Peace, Not Violence

Love, Not Hate, is the Answer...

A tragic event happened last night at a nightclub in Orlando. A young man, born in America, whose parents were from Afghanistan, walked into a LGBT friendly nightclub at 2 am and started murdering people. At this point the death toll is at 50 and most likely to rise. This is already being billed as the deadliest mass shooting in US history and is being investigated for possible ties to terrorists in the Middle East.There will be predictable responses forthcoming about this horrific tragedy that has played out numerous times before.

First, there will be the Islamophobes who will have yet another platform in which to express their view that all Muslims are a danger to our society. They'll cling to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and his demand that we register all Muslims entering the country. In response, people like me will aggressively point out that it is wrong to hold all of Christianity responsible for horrible acts of individual and state violence, and it is just as wrong to hold all practitioners of Islam responsible for the acts of murderous thugs. And we cannot, as a free people, adopt Nazi tactics in treating people of different faiths in America if we wish to remain a hopeful city on a hill that advances liberty. All freedom loving Americans should find this outrageous.

Second, there will be the progressive anti-gun lobby who will say that we need to eradicate all guns from our society. They will cite the many examples of gun violence as a backdrop to their arguments. They will, of course, ignore the fact that the gun the shooter used in this particular case was obtained against current laws and those laws did not prevent this murderer from obtaining an automatic weapon to kill his victims. And they will also ignore that this crime was conducted in another "gun free zone." Perhaps we can agree that the signs informing the murderer of such, weren't of much use in providing protection.

Third, xenophobes will argue that THIS is an example of why we need to close the borders. They'll argue that allowing anyone into our nation puts us all at risk. They will continue to advocate checkpoints where papers are demanded. They will cling to spying and an overt police state that they believe will protect them. Of course they will ignore the fact that immigrants have much lower incidents of violent crime than Americans. They will also ignore that the murderer in this crime was a natural born American. They will ignore the principles of freedom that demand assumed innocence before guilt. Throwing away constitutional rights faithfully believing that the state will protect us is folly. No law would have prevented this event from occurring. Only changes in policy will deter it.

The blood thirsty neoconservatives will psychologically link the murder to ISIS in hopes that America will provide a never ending supply of American blood and treasure so that we can "defeat the enemy." They will point to people like Edward Snowden who oppose NSA spying and argue that this crime could have been stopped if the government wasn't handcuffed. They'll demand new powers to invade the privacy of Americans. They'll ignore the fact that the shooter was actually investigated by the FBI in advance of this crime. They'll ignore the fact that American involvement in the Middle East has spurred some of the most heinous hatred of our government and our people who are seen to approve bombing raids and all kinds of war crimes against their people. Disengaging this morass is the right thing to do. Continuing to pour gasoline on burning buildings isn't a way to deal with this issue.

The media will demand of pro-2nd Amendment politicians to agree to "sensible gun regulations" that would have NOTHING to do with the crime committed in the Orlando nightclub. The politicians will use this to raise campaign dollars in defense and promotion of new gun regulations. Meanwhile, no restrictions will be passed and no "gun free zone" signs will be removed. A status quo of state imposed insanity where the same things are tried expecting a different result.

What we need to do is get real on all of these issues and understand it's not our Muslim, immigrant, gun toting friends, neighbors, and people who threaten our life and liberty. It's the various groups (hate and other) and politicians who have a vested interest in using these events to enhance their power using the tragedy as a way to lever more government power. Whose end is not to prevent such horrible acts of terror but to have more resources in which to investigate their occurrence, each time asking for more resources to do what clearly cannot be done. Pre-crime programs work only to rob the innocent of their rights.

Religion, nation of origin, race, nationalism, and creed don't threaten us. Hatred based on these things do. It is sad to realize that many in Oklahoma who proclaim to be Christians will participate in the hate based response to this event and will express it on social media in order to poison as many as they can to their ideology of hate.

Love your neighbor... "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."