From the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas last night, 64 year old Stephen Paddock unleashed the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, killing at least 50, wounding another 400 plus. Paddock aimed automatic weapons fire at a country music festival below for approximately 15 minutes, causing chaos as people ran and ducked for cover. Paddock turned his gun on himself before police could enter the room he was shooting from.
The investigation will perhaps reveal a motive for the mass slaying. The shooter was armed with 10 rifles with extended magazines, according to preliminary police reports. Police also report that Paddock had no criminal history, and was living in a retirement community in Mesquite, NV.
There will be the inevitable calls from the gun manufacturers lobby and their friends in politics not to reopen the debate over gun safety and availability of automatic, military-style weapons to the general public, as was the case after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. For them, there's never a right time. For the rest of us, we can't become numb to the regularity of these mass killings. We need to once again ask what kind of a society we want to live in, surrounded by heavily armed killers with a grudge, a cause, or a mental issue. This has to stop.
BONUS: After the initial "thoughts and prayers" fallback --
Republicans are desperate. The NRA hasn't yet told them what to say about the Las Vegas shooting. Need talking points fast!— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) October 2, 2017
(photo: Deutsche Welt. Concert goers scramble for safety at Las Vegas country music concert)
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