Pondering violence

We are all saddened by the horrific murder of scores of music fans in Las Vegas by a 64-year-old white man with no history of violence. He managed to convert a dozen or so semi-automatic rifles into fully automatic weapons, essentially identical to the weapons our soldiers use in battle. He bought, legally, the semi-automatic rifles. (Thanks NRA.) He bought, legally, the $50 kits that convert those rifles into fully automatic weapons. (Thanks NRA.) He bought, legally, thousands of rounds of high-powered ammo in high-capacity clips. (Thanks NRA.) Then he illegally installed the legal kits onto the legal rifles, grabbed his legal ammo, and headed to Mandalay Bay.

My question, aside from how we've allowed the NRA to spit on common sense regarding gun control, is this: What if the gunman had been a Muslim? How would our dialogue be different today? Instead of talking about this as a senseless tragedy, we'd all be talking about jihad and Islamic law, and the president's speech would have been much, much different.

When white men commit mass murder - as they do more often than all other races combined - we grieve and say he's crazy, and offer prayers and sympathy. But when a Muslim or a black American or any minority commits an atrocity, we always - always. - assume a sinister, race-related motive, whether it's there or not, and shake our heads in righteous outrage, and vow to take our country back.

I guess I have another question. Take our country back from whom?

Steve Loh

Hoffman Estates