I am disgusted by the media coverage of the event (as usual, I'm ALWAYS disgusted by the media coverage of any-fucking-thing in this country). The way they do it is to present the issue in such a way as to inflame both sides, which only serves to further divide and cause conflict. I felt the same way about the link to ISIS... before I even knew he had proclaimed he was with ISIS, I thought to myself, terrorist groups don't discriminate who they terrorize, why would they specifically go after an LGBT community? It sounds a lot more like an individual consumed with prejudice and fear about that group who decided to commit an atrocity. And now everyone is getting all stirred up about the divisive issues (made infinitely more divisive by the 2-party system and the media organizations in their pockets) of non-heteronormative people being sinners, and fear of Muslims, and gun control.
As far as gun control in America, it's absolutely a fucking crazy situation. I think guns should be legal, both because there are valid uses for (some of) them, like hunting, or simply going to a shooting range for fun, but it's absolutely insane that you can buy military-grade assault weapons. And there are background checks for buying guns at stores, but at gun shows, there are absolutely no restrictions, anyone can go in and buy a gun, including assault weapons. NO ONE who isn't fighting in a war needs automatic or semiautomatic assault weapons. You don't need an AK-47 to hunt a deer. You use an AK-47 to kill people, that's what it's for. It boggles my fucking mind that people are able to get weapons like that here. If he had only been able to get a regular pistol or something, he might have managed to hit a few people, instead of hitting 100 and killing 49.
It's kind of complex though. I mean ideally I wish guns didn't even exist, or that we had never allowed them perhaps aside from hunting rifles. But, there is a huge gun culture in America, which began at its inception as a result of the war of independence from Britain, and the exploration of the vast frontier where protection was needed. The second amendment was written (the right to bear arms) because we had just defended ourselves from our then-overlords, and the idea was that the people should never be defenseless against authority. But it has turned into an obsession. The fact is, guns are incredibly easy to get illegally here, and criminals will be able to get them easily whether they're legal or not. It could be disastrous if suddenly everyone not willing to buy them on the black market didn't have one, and the people with guns knew that. Or, maybe it wouldn't, I don't know. I know I've never owned a gun, though I have fired them, and I don't plan to. But sometimes I think maybe it would be a good idea to have one... I mean you never know. Some crazy breaks into my house, maybe I would wish I had one. Or, one time a bear almost broke into my house, a big ass bear who smelled the food i was cooking (he pushed on the door but decided against it... but it's a glass door, he easily could have come in). If that had happened, I wouldn't have had anything to defend myself but a knife, and I don't fancy taking on a bear with a knife.