A Sad, Soulless Country

Another day, another mass shooting. Another kick in America's gut.

A gunman with ties to ISIS has murdered 49 people and injured 53 others in a gay nightclub in Orlando, FL. Two days earlier, a gunman murdered an up-and-coming 22-year-old singer, also in Orlando.  

When will the American people rise up and demand action by our so-called 'leaders,' most of whom are in bed with the National Rifle Association, to stop this ongoing carnage? Every mass shooting in America is followed by members of Congress offering their 'thoughts and prayers' to the victims and their families. And the NRA announces that the slaughter would have been prevented had everybody in the club, movie theater, mall or whatever been armed with an assault rifle. And neither of these things does anything to stop future carnage.

I am sad and I am angry. But most of all, I am tired of the do-nothing Congress offering nothing more than 'thoughts and prayers.' I am tired of the NRA and its congressional puppets blocking even the most logical, well-considered steps to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and terrorists. No one has proposed 'taking away the guns' from law-abiding citizens. Did you know that people can be prevented from taking a commercial flight on an airplane if they are on the 'no-fly list', but they cannot be prevented from legally buying weapons?

I have been around for more than six decades. This country has been through many ups and downs during that time. But I have never, ever, been so dismayed, disgusted and fearful for this country. In all honesty, I no longer want to live here. The senseless violence and the ongoing mass slaughter of innocent people is just about more than I can bear. And it isn't all perpetrated by religious extremists. It seems that any nutcase who wants one can get a gun and go out and slaughter people. Our so-called elected leaders are so far up the ass of the NRA they can't see what they are doing, or maybe they just don't care. 

I am quite literally in tears, not just for the people murdered in Orlando, but also for what this once-great country has become. And no, Donald Trump is not the answer.

I don't want 'thoughts and prayers.' I don't want false accusations. I WANT ACTION! Every time I hear about one of these attacks, I feel as if I've been kicked in the stomach. I literally feel ill. And the worst part, aside from the loss of life, is knowing that nothing -- NOTHING -- will be done to prevent the next attack. 

If the murder of 26 first graders and their teachers at Sandy Hook, CT, didn't create changes, why should we expect the murder of 49 gays to make a difference? America has sold its soul to the NRA and the gun industry. What a sad, sad place America has become.