Stephen Paddock was a madman. That is a fact that can’t be debated. No sane individual would indiscriminately shoot into a crowd of strangers knowing he would end many of their lives. I can only offer my sincere condolences to the survivors of the shooting, and the families of the victims who were murdered, and pray that they will be able to heal in mind and body.
With that said, I hope that this horrific event will not start a movement to overturn the Second Amendment to our Constitution. A friend made a very important comment about that document. He said:
“The second amendment was not about hunting or protection from criminals. It was for protection from an overreaching tyrannical government”.
Consider that statement. The Founding Fathers were well aware of how dangerous a tyrannical government could be. When they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor they were well aware that if the revolution failed, they would all be executed. When Benjamin Franklin said: “We must all hang together, or we shall assuredly all hang separately”, he meant it.
A horrible event has occurred in Las Vegas. Fifty-nine people have been killed, and over five hundred have been injured, many seriously. This was apparently done by a lone gunman. Whether he had any accomplices is yet to be determined. In the aftermath of this tragedy, politicians on the left have chosen to politicize it, even before the pools of blood have been removed from the pavement and the relatives of all the dead and wounded have been notified. In my view this is reprehensible, as disgusting as ISIS claiming credit for the massacre, stating that the gunman had recently converted to Islam.
If anyone has any doubt about how fragile our hold on what might be referred to as a “civilized society” is, I would suggest that you examine the current situation in Puerto Rico after it was devastated by the effects of Hurricane Maria. Certainly, the situation on that island territory is different than that of a hurricane ravaged state on the mainland. The inability of power companies with mutual aid agreements to drive down and pre-stage repair vehicles prior to the storm is obvious. In addition, the inability of the residents to self evacuate by land is another very important factor. There simply wasn’t enough seat capacity or time to evacuate three and a half million people when it became apparent that that the category five storm was going to hit the island, even if you could convince them to leave.