Toronto tragedy

Toronto is my home town, and this is really saddening.

It's been reported that the driver, in custody is known to police. It was a terror attack, even if the motive is not currently known.

Newtown tragedy leads liberals to jump the gun

It's saddening when there's a tragedy, particularly one involving children.  I have children and I cannot imagine a world where they are taken away, particularly by senseless violence.  My prayers and thoughts are with those victims' families in Newtown, Connecticut.

But progressives have, forgive the expression, jumped the gun in their response to this act of senseless violence by a disturbed individual.

CREDO, a progressive grassroots group, is organizing a march on the National Rifle Association's lobbying arm in Washington, D.C. Monday.

"After the shooter Adam Lanza, no one is more to blame for the massacre of 20 first graders and six women at the Sandy Hook Elementary School than the National Rifle Association," CREDO wrote on the Facebook page where the march is being organized. "To stop the senseless killing we must first stop the NRA."

Here's why they've jumped the gun:

(1) This tragedy requires a period of mourning not an immediate finger pointing crusade.

(2) No one is more to blame than the NRA?  REALLY? No one is more to blame than the guy who did the killing.  Claiming the NRA as the primary culprit is immoral, misleading and self-serving hyper-partisanship. 

(3)  They're planning a march on the NRA.  Again it's premature given the first two points but more importantly it is another example of the left's attempts to demonize opponents and divide the nation.  To do so using this tragedy as a reason is downright disgusting.

(4) It's not clear how far they want to take this effort, but it's not hard to imagine the absurd extent that they could take it.  Assault rifles have to go.  And then hand guns.  And then hunting rifles. And then archery equipment and knives.  And then any type of poison that could be used instead of a gun after guns are prohibited.  And then anything that could be used to manufacture poisons.  Where does it stop?

I'll admit, guns can make mass murder easier, but would have a gun ban prevented this tragedy or others?  Perhaps the form the tragedy took but not the evil intent.  Killers have used guns in countries where they are banned.  Mass murderers have used all sorts of instruments, even Tylenol and Kool Aid.

Knee-jerk reactions we've come to expect do not make the tragedy preventable.  They're designed to make those who believe certain things feel better about themselves in light of a horrific tragedy, that's all.

Aurora Colorado tragedy is just that

Some things are apolitical and should remain so. Things seldom remain apolitical though. It didn't take long for politicians and the media to start chiming in on the shootings today in Aurora, Colorado.

This, from ABC, disguised though it may be, is still a political point made i a story where the emphasis should be entirely on the loss of life and the devastation, pain and suffering that the unfortunate victims and their families have endured and will endure.

But, ultimately violent acts by people intent on doing as much damage as they can and with easy access to firearms is unavoidable.

(emphasis added)

That is indeed a political statement. The implicit message is that maybe easy access to firearms is the problem. It ignores the fact that millions of Americans with 2nd Amendment protection and access to firearms behave entirely responsibly and are both crime-free and accident-free. This is not an issue of easy access to firearms, it is an issue of a deranged individual, not the only one in the country, who would have even with restricted access to firearms, still have committed a heinous crime.

These types of tragedies are unavoidable, but thankfully, rare. This tragedy is just that, a tragedy. It is not a political fallout, and it is certainly not time to make something political out of this. Save that debate for later, if you must try to turn this into a political issue, but now is not the time.

UPDATE: Apparently there's another, more glaring instance of politicization that I was not aware happened. Mary Katherine Ham at Hot Air notes that on air personalities at ABC erroneously linked the shooter to the Tea Party. I`m sure they ghoulishly hoped the link was credible, or they would have have reported that as unverified.