Once again, a tragedy has taken place when on Sunday, June 8, 2014, two people, a husband and wife, opened fire on two Las Vegas police officers as they were eating lunch in a pizza place. They then went across the street to a WalMart and shot and killed an innocent bystander.
There is a wealth of news detailing the events of this horrendous crime, but it is a sad commentary on the state of things in the U.S.A. when every few days there is another mass shooting.
Just last week, a gunman went on a rampage at a Christian university in Seattle, Washington. One 19-year old man was killed and several were injured. A student monitor disarmed the gunman as he was reloading his shotgun by spraying him with pepper spray, then, with the help of other students, tackling him.
As I wrote in my last post, there was a massacre near U.C. Santa Barbara about two weeks ago, where six were killed and the perpetrator killed himself, as did the husband and wife who committed the Las Vegas murders.
I call this blog "A Humane Life", as I love animals and feel for them. There is so much cruelty against the most innocent of creation. Child abuse, animal cruelty, you name it, it happens all too frequently.
In the Vegas rampage, the victim at WalMart, a 31-year-old man, was carrying a concealed weapon. He spotted the male suspect and confronted him, but did not see the female suspect, who was behind him. Before he could use his weapon to neutralize the male, she shot and killed him.
The gun debate rages on, and I do not like guns for the havoc they cause. Innocent humans and innocent animals fall victim to firearms. However, ordinary citizens must have the right to own guns, because when all weapons are only in the government's hands, it can lead to totalitarianism.
The Vegas suspects held extreme anti-government views, and also were allegedly meth users. They also supposedly were part of the "militia" that descended on the Bundy ranch to face-off with the BLM. Bundy evidently thinks he has the right to graze his cattle on public lands without paying the ridiculously low fees to the BLM. We have far too many extremists on the loose in the U.S. today.
The accessibility of weapons in the U.S. has become so easy that even felons (the male suspect was a convicted felon) and the mentally ill can obtain them easily. Law-abiding citizens who pass a background check can and do buy and possess guns. I am in favor of more comprehensive background checks, but I think guns are far too easy to get illegally. Even with enhanced checks to attempt to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a danger to society, these individuals will find a way to obtain them illegally.
This afternoon, a convicted felon led police on a high-speed pursuit over several Los Angeles area freeways. As he drove, he stuck a high-powered assault rifle out of his car window. As I write this, police are looking for shell casings on the freeway, as the pursuing officers believe he actually shot at them. After exiting his vehicle and running through a North Hollywood neighborhood, the suspect entered a house (luckily no one was home). After several hours, tear gas was lobbed into the residence and the suspect surrendered, with no one being injured. It could have been a much different story, however.
Guns, even assault rifles, are easy to get, even by those prohibited from owning them because of felony convictions.
Enhanced background checks are a good idea, but I'm not naïve enough to think it will really stop the Sandyhooks, U.C.S.B.'s, Columbines, Virginia Tech's, and so many more unspeakable tragedies.
Anti-government extremists are a clear danger to our way of life. Every civilized nation must have a functioning government. All of us don't like certain things our government does, but we let our views be known at the polls. Also, these anti-government types would be the first ones to call the police or sheriff's department if their own life or their family's life was in danger.
The U.S. is going down a terrible, scary path. Also, statistics show that those who perpetuate cruelty against animals are more likely to perpetuate cruelty against human beings.
Very sad indeed.
