While what happened in Las Vegas is certainly a horrible tragedy, at least we are done hearing about the NFL now. For about a week I had been commenting on Facebook that I wonder what the next issue will be that will drown out the last. Interesting how some really important issue grabs the attention of everyone on social media for as long as their attention span will allow - or until something new comes along. How many times has the gun issue come to the forefront only to fade away after people lose interest and move on to the next pressing issue? One might think they could stay on point about gun deaths but it seems that so called "mass shootings" are the only thing that gets their attention...and for only so long. Perhaps it is because overall gun violence is most common in poor urban areas and frequently associated with gang violence, often involving male juveniles or young adult males. I guess poor young bad guys killing each other isn't as bad as a sudden "attack on a large group of innocent victims". At least 40 people are murdered every day in the US, yet there is no daily outcry. Although "mass shootings" are slightly on the rise lately, they still account for a small fraction of overall gun-related deaths (yet they always get extensive coverage in the media). It should be noted that from 1968 - 2017, approximately 1.5 million people have been killed by firearms in the U.S. It that same time period, Americans have asserted their "right to choose" by willfully killing over 50 million babies in abortion clinics at a current rate of over 3,000 per day. An "attack on a large group of innocent victims" that never gets a whisper in any media.
