Massacre in Orlando, Part I

It happened yet again. Another Islamist inspired massacre of people just living their lives. This time it was at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Just recently, it was at a cafe in Tel Aviv, Israel. And it seems like yesterday that we were mourning the San Bernardino killings committed by a coworker of the victims; a coworker motivated by radical Islam. The list of killings committed in the name of Islam is long, and I will not repeat them all. Nor will I, as is my policy, name the perpetrator.

The reactions also are all too predictable. One site posted some tweets from the Hollywood crowd. Ariana Grande said: "How how how how can one have so much hate?" Kirstie Alley tweeted: "I can't fathom this kind of hatred and insanity. Paul Feig: "There's enough hate in this world. It's just too much...Enough hate."

I have to admit, I have difficulty understanding such comments about "hate." My first issue with addressing the problem as being one of "hate" is this: is there some ideology called "hate" that has numerous followers throughout the world? What are the main tenets of this "hate" ideology? Who are the leaders of "hate"? Assuming we are correct in referring to what happened as "hate," we need to be clear that this hatred flows from a very specific ideology called radical Islam. (One can question whether this hatred flows from all of Islam, but that topic is not being addressed here.) So, it is simply incorrect to refer to "hate" as any kind of motivating factor in these types of atrocities. But if we must use the term "hate" let's at least use it properly: "hate inspired by radical Islam." There is no separate "hate" ideology.

The second issue I have with the use of the term "hate" is the way it is discussed as if it were some unnatural phenomenon. The left incorrectly assumes that people are inherently good. Conservatives tend to believe that goodness is taught. Anyone who asks how there can be such "hate" in the world is obviously unfamiliar with all of history. Such people have no knowledge of Hitler and the Nazis, Mao and the Red Chinese, Pol Pot and the killing fields of Cambodia, Stalin and Soviet Russia, Rwanda, Sudan and on and on. One hundred million people killed in the Twentieth Century. How can anyone believe that people are basically good? Do not misunderstand; there are many good and fine people in the world. Unfortunately, there are also many bad and evil people.

The other predictable reaction was the overwhelming call for more gun control. Julianne Moore tweeted: "How many people have to be killed before we act as a nation to # End Gun Violence?" The June 13, 2016 LA Times: "While it is essential to understand the motivations of the gunman, that shouldn't distract us from the issue of all-too-ready access to guns." President Obama: "This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school or in a house of worship or a movie theater or in a nightclub."

The first problem with the gun issue is that the left ignores the millions upon millions of guns that are out there that are never used for criminal purposes. The second problem is that the policy usually called for by the left results in only law-abiding citizens not having access to guns. Does anyone truly believe that people with evil intentions will be unable to obtain firearms? That any law will deter those who wish to commit evil deeds? For how many years/decades has heroin been illegal? Somehow, people are still able to obtain it. The third problem with the left's analysis is something that Obama, without realizing it, actually hinted at.

Obama mentioned the locations of various mass shootings - a school, a house of worship, a movie theater and a nightclub. Those places do actually have something in common - no one already there had a firearm. Only the perpetrators were armed. After the attack in Orlando I had the opportunity to speak with an LAPD officer. I asked if he thought there was a consensus among officers about whether private citizens should have the right to carry a concealed weapon. (The Federal Court of Appeal for the 9th Circuit just ruled that there is no Constitutional right to concealed carry.) On the record, the officer said he had no comment. Off the record he said he thought it would be a good idea to have armed citizens. For those who disagree, I just have one question: if your loved one was killed in that nightclub, wouldn't you be a whole lot happier if one or more customers was armed and able to take out the perpetrator, before your loved one was killed?