“Thoughts and prayers” is, simply, just not enough.
Tragic news out of Las Vegas this morning. Kelley and I send our prayers and deepest condolences to all those affected.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) October 2, 2017
Praying for the victims + their families of the Las Vegas shooting
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) October 2, 2017
Leaving Puerto Rico now for D.C. Will be in Las Vegas early tomorrow to pay my respects. Everyone is in my thoughts and prayers. https://t.co/dBvZUIUfr0
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2017
These are just a few of the many politicians who tweeted out their thoughts and prayers on Monday following a shooting that left 59 people dead and over 500 injured in Las Vegas. These are, of course, the same people who, as Splinter notes, took in big donations from the National Rifle Association last year.
The Desert Sun has an article out today titled, “Las Vegas shooting could change festival security at Coachella and around the world,” which really seems to miss the fact that the horrific mass shooting really nothing to do with festival security at all.
Early indications appear that a man, acting alone, was able to purchase the 23 weapons and thousands of rounds found inside his Las Vegas suite. He also had dozens of other weapons at his home and another property in Reno, according to CNN. Officials believe that the gunman bought many of the weapons legally.
EXCLUSIVE: these are 2 of 23 guns found in #LasVegas shooter’s hotel room at #MandalayBay – hammer, bipod, optics, ammo. 59 lives. Chilling. pic.twitter.com/gManlUIeZI
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) October 3, 2017
Festival security could not have been aware of those weapons as the killer never actually went inside the festival grounds – and the scary thing is, it could have been any event with lots of people taking place near tall buildings. Those types of events happen all the time in this country.
So why are we talking about festival security and not the real issue? Oh, that’s right…
Weird that it’s just never a good time to talk about doing something, anything, to stop people – our friends, neighbors, family members – from getting killed. No, these politicians just tweet their thoughts and prayers and then go back to doing nothing at all to stop these horrific incidents from happening again and again and again.
But, it seems that these guys know what they are doing. Delay long enough, and the passion for change will fade, at least until the next time dozens of our loved ones are killed – but, in the meantime they can just pack their campaign bank accounts with donations.
Last year, the NRA spent $54 million on elections and, based on the hell we are living through seemingly every day, they won. But, does it always have to be this way? Australia took action and it worked. Couldn’t we do something too?
I hope so. Because the victims of the Las Vegas shooting deserve much more than just thoughts and prayers.
