We believe the worst crimes are the ones with no clear motive. Not only is there a crime scene, but that also leaves everyone involved wondering why? How? What?
A lone gunman opened fire into a crowd of an estimated 22,000 plus people attending an outdoor country music shindig in Las Vegas on Sunday night, leaving over 50 dead and over 500 others injured. It's not unreasonable to expect that of those injured, many more will become fatalities of this outrageous act. A bewildering one to be sure.
It's a crime with no clear or apparent motive or purpose. On the surface, it really just appears to be some random Joe Lunchbox type who decided for whatever reason to blow out the window to his hotel room, and then proceed to gun down a whole mess of innocent people. Normally we'd be glib and make some reference to not hating country music as much as he seemed to, but we'll forego that.
We've been reading the reports and watching the videos from the event and like the rest, we're sitting here scratching our head wondering why? So aggravatingly random this was. Of all the places and all the things, what was so special about this one event and one moment in time that saw a nobody go off on so many...and for no apparent or discernible purpose?
The videos are nerve wracking to be sure.
As we watched one after another (being in the digital age this is so easy nowadays as everyone seems to record everything), listening to the panicked chatter and the screams of confusion and terror...we just kept wondering why?
Normally, one can pretty easily deduce a motive even when none is readily revealed. Most are political in nature, such as protesting something like an inequity or perceived slight, and others are simply pure acts of hate and wanton chaos. But this event doesn't seem to have any of that surrounding it at all. Nothing.
For all intents and purposes, it would be much like walking to your local bus stop as you do every morning to get to work, and some random nobody walks up and opens fire on everyone standing there. These aren't even the same people every day standing there. It was completely and utterly random. Typically though, with those acts that are perpetrated only to instill panic and fear and to engage in the chaos of things, the gunman(men) can be picked apart as radicals, extremists, having deep hatred for this or that group, or have been in and out of mental clinics since as far back as anyone would care to remember.
They're otherwise unhinged. So their reasoning for the seemingly random event becomes less random.
But that guy. THAT guy? So random and in defiance of anything resembling logic or reason. The gunman at the bus stop. No one ever could've seen it coming or predicted it. It just happened.
Every report we have read seems to indicate that the gunman had no criminal history, wasn't on anyone's radar, wasn't mentally unwell (at least nothing revealed as of yet), or any of the other well known MOs that we would expect to see from such an incident. He was just some random guy who did a crazy violent thing for no apparent reason.
And repeatedly, no less.
We can't be sure because there's no real timeline for the videos we watched, but it seemed to us that he reloaded at least a couple times after emptying his clips. So there's intent. Clear intent. It wasn't a random dude opening fire and then he realized what he had done and stopped. He reloaded. A couple times it seems. That shows he had every intent on hurting, maiming or killing people.
But WHY?
Right now it's like an itch that can't be scratched. You know that feeling? Like the puzzle that is missing that one piece and it's maddening. You have so much of the story except the final page. Imagine reading a great book and the big reveal is coming and the last page just ain't there. The "Whodunit and why they done it" page. This is like that.
It didn't take long for ISIS to pop up and claim that he was acting on their behalf either. Galling. Claims that he had converted to Islam and was "a soldier" in their cause. UGH. We suppose nothing can be really ruled out at this point, but the plausibility of that claim is dubious at best and strains credulity.
Make no mistake though - the gunman went from nobody Joe Lunchbox to instant terrorist in a muzzle flash.
And that is exactly what he is - a terrorist. This is how they roll. This is what they do. This is their MO. Terror.
That said, however, we would be hard pressed to believe any ISIS connection in there. This terrorist more likely than not acted alone, and didn't fly anyone's banner.
"...against all enemies, foreign and domestic..."
That line keeps roiling around in our head. Over and over again. Many are saying this is one of the worst ever mass shootings in US history. Some records aren't worth having. This is one of those times. It escapes us how any of this is even possible? Sure we could point a finger at the 2nd Amendment and all the "good" it has done the country, but really, is that even the case here? That the 2nd Amendment made this possible? That it was that alone that afforded this terrorist the opportunity to do what he did? That without the 2nd Amendment in place, none of this would've happened?
No.
It has fuck all to do with it. We get really annoyed seeing it referenced so often in the posts surrounding the event. It's nauseating. The 2nd Amendment didn't make this possible. Choice did.
If Joe Lunchbox decides that he wants to go kill some people, he'll find a way. Whether he is legally allowed to own a firearm or not isn't gonna stop him (or her) at all. Drugs are illegal, yet drugs remain to this day a "thing" all across the world. So if firearms were rendered illegal tomorrow, and the 2nd Amendment repealed as a matter of due course, would that put an end to gun crime?
Hell naw.
We can't even begin to imagine the pain those families must be feeling right now. To know that their loved ones were out having a good time, surrounded by others doing likewise, and then this happened. At least families of gang-bangers and "bad guys" know a time may come when their kin will meet a horrible end...but these families? Yeah not at all. That's something many or all never had to give a second thought to. That one day, right outta the blue, their kin would be killed or wounded in such a manner for being guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and nothing more than that.
Sadder still is that the terrorist will never see his day in court. Will never have to answer for this atrocity. The coward took his own life and denied those families any real closure. We're pretty sure that not one of them is weeping for the loss of his life, but we're equally sure that most or all are lamenting instead that he will never have to face or atone for his cowardice. And the world waits with bated breath, hanging on every new story that appears, looking for that elusive "WHY?" to be answered.
Too many people died or were otherwise wounded in a senseless act. Even if they did dig up a motive, for many, the closure just won't be there because no answer could ever make sense as to the "WHY?" this happened.
For many more, ourselves included, all we can do is write about this as a means for catharsis. To join in the ranks of the multitude of people right now everywhere left scratching their heads, knowing full well that no answer will ever make sense to them. How could it? Is there really ever gonna be an answer that any of us could listen to or read and have us all going, "Yeah, okay. It makes sense now. We get why they did it."?
No.
And that's all for the better because it means that none of us would be willing to legitimize the "WHY?".
Now we're left to hope and pray that this doesn't set off an avalanche of copycats who would be looking to cash in on the misery and get noticed. That this sees people staying away in droves because now they feel that even in large public gatherings, no one is safe. That sees a world gripped by fear and paranoia (though a justified paranoia) enough to have people live lesser lives because they don't wanna be the next ones on a tally sheet.
We do hope and pray, but a lifetime of watching the world inch forward has taught us cynicism and how the real world works, and we're far too cynical to believe that this will be the last event like this. The cynic and realist in us knows only too well that right now, somewhere out there in the world is someone reading a story about the event and already making plans to best the numbers of casualties.
For that, we hate the world for the cynical nature it has fostered over the decades.
To know that tonight, as we sleep, someone somewhere is already making plans to outdo this...and that enrages us.
What have we allowed ourselves to become?
Free your 8 (and keep those wounded in your thoughts for a safe journey back) SCAs always, if you have any questions, concerns, comments or suggestions, feel free to leave them below or contact us.
