The dead weren't even finished dying in
So rather than allow even one day to reflect and mourn, rather than allow us to consider the heroism of the survivors and first responders in that
But the murderous retired accountant
Paddock took days to plan. He was meticulous, arranging a 23-gun arsenal -- some guns fully and illegally automatic -- in his room on the 32nd floor of the
He worked out his fields of fire, even set up cameras to alert him to police. He stocked up on thousands of rounds, and authorities said he also had components used to make bombs in his home and his car.
And then, when he was ready, he unleashed hell, shooting down on thousands of innocents at that Sunday-night country music concert across the way.
At least 59 are dead now, more than 500 injured.
As of this writing -- days after his killing spree -- authorities could not offer a motive. This is especially odd, because in such cases motives are usually released within hours; the shooter was a madman, or he had political associations and resentments forming the latticework of motive.
But not with this one, not with Paddock.
Yet even when the preliminary count of the dead was still in the 20s, as loved ones desperately tried to find the missing, listening to the terrible sound of cellphones ringing with no answer, the politicians made their moves.
The universal and hateful hot take came from
At least she was honest in her tribalism, upfront about it, using "Repugs" for
What's not legitimate was her lack of sympathy for the dead.
"I'm actually not even sympathetic bc [because] country music fans often are Republican gun toters," Geftman-Gold wrote. Later, she was fired.
And in the morning following the massacre, even as victims lay dying in hospitals, Clinton was busy virtue-signaling on Twitter.
"The crowd fled at the sound of gunshots," tweeted
She must have been thinking of a
But
There is Republican-backed legislation to make suppressors for long guns easier to obtain -- still requiring governmental approval and fees.
A suppressor doesn't make a gun silent like the weapon of a
Should we have more debate? Certainly. Let's have it. There are more guns and more gun crimes in America than any other place in the world.
But let's not forget that most killings aren't committed by some lone sniper without apparent motive. The killings happen on the streets of big cities like
And America is numb to what happens in
There are guns in the suburbs and in rural areas, and yet the suburbs aren't killing fields. So if we're going to have another gun debate, can't we at least discuss culture, too? And can't we wonder about what pathology drives so many mass shootings in the past few years?
Blaming the
There may be something in our culture that is wrong and sick and festering. And recent mass shootings may be a symptom of larger cultural illness.
We know that we're become increasingly nihilistic, and isolated from one another on our electronic devices. We know we're divided into politically warring tribes, as the political center crumbles, as the
We know that attendance continues to drop at traditional centers of worship. And even so, the political/cultural elites who frame our gun and other debates often mock the remaining faithful as "religious fanatics."
As America abandons religion for entertainment, we consume unprecedented amounts of pharmaceuticals, from opioids to mood-altering drugs, to mask our emotional and mental pain.
Aren't you curious as to how this impacts culture?
Even so, when the shooting began in the Mandalay Bay massacre, as the country music crowd stampeded in fear, as people died, Americans selflessly helped each other, comforted each other, risking and giving their own lives to save each other.
If only we'd been allowed a day or two to mourn, to reflect on the goodness even in the midst of the horror, before the politics swooped in.
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John Kass is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune who also hosts a radio show on WLS-AM.