Las Vegas Massacre

October 4, 2017  •   Uncategorized  •   0 comment

The Las Vegas Massacre will go down as the most horrific slaughter of innocent people ever to occur within the United States. As of today, the murderous death toll stands at fifty-nine individuals losing their lives, another five-hundred plus injured, and thousands of terrified others fled for safe cover. Carnage was everywhere! Most of the world has joined America in expressing sorrow and praying for the victims and their families and friends.

Why?

It is difficult to visualize how a lone individual could have armed himself with at least 23 firearms, including rapid-fire/assault rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, rifle scopes and tripods, and brought them unnoticed into his hotel suite. From everything that has been made public to date, the alleged shooter was able to move under the radar—no police record and no visible signs of being any type of threat to the general public. And as of today, law enforcement has not announced any suspicions of a motive that may have triggered such brutality.

Now for the sticky stuff concerning the Las Vegas Massacre

First let me be clear, what I have to say here is in no way a political position. In fact, I am a proponent of the Second Amendment and former member of the NRA.

However, in the late 1950s/early 60s, I was an MPDC police detective in Washington, D.C. I remember it was against the law for a citizen to possess any rapid-fire weapon (sub-machine gun, etc.) that was capable of firing “X” number of bullets within a very short time-frame. I do not know what happened to that “antiquated” law, but I suspect that somewhere along the way, that either that law contained an expiration date that was allowed to expire—without being renewed, or our U.S. Congress saw fit to ignore that law’s value and chose to “update and soften” it while bestowing more gun rights to citizens.

Over the past couple of days, I have heard a variety of politically motivated and mundane recommendations on how to minimize such killings. Now, it is my turn to offer up a suggested law proposal that will surely take a proactive step in helping to control such senseless crimes: Prohibit private citizens from possessing rapid-fire weapons.

Could the Las Vegas Massacre Have Been Avoided?

I seriously question the need for private citizens to purchase and/or possess such rapid-firing weapons. Ask yourselves, what are such weapons used for? Hunting and target practice will most likely be what we will hear. Or perhaps that it is cool to own one of those rapid-fire guns made popular in Hollywood movies. Oh yes, another response, taking such a drastic step will be the first move to take away our 2nd. Amendment rights, … I don’t really think so!

It is my sincere hope that both branches of Congress will jointly revisit this extremely serious issue and take those common-sense actions that are best for our American public… Not what is perceived to be in best interest for either political party. Again, there is simply no logical reason that the average citizen should be able to possess such powerful rapid-fire weapons.

What do you think? Let me know your reasoning.