Let's Talk About Orlando

On Friday night, former The Voice contestant Christina Grimmie was shot at a Meet and Greet with fans after her Orlando concert, and passed away at the hospital from the injuries. She was 22 years old. TMZ reports that the shooter was 27, and drove to Christina's Orlando concert with the express purpose of killing her. Christina's brother Marcus subdued the shooter and prevented him from shooting anyone else at the crowd, but the shooter manager to free himself long enough to kill himself. Here was her audition for The Voice:






Then, in the early hours of this morning, a gunman armed with an assault rifle opened fire at an Orlando nightclub in the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Pulse is one of the largest gay clubs in Orlando, and police have classified this as both a terror incident and a hate crime. Initial reports stated that about 50 people were killed, and at least 42 people were wounded. The gunman was found dead inside the club at 5am after a shootout with police. Read full coverage of the story at the New York Times. TMZ has information about the shooter, who apparently became angry after seeing two men kissing a few months ago in Miami.

How did we get here? Well, in 2008, the Supreme Court redefined the second amendment to apply not just to a "well regulated militia," but to individuals everywhere. Then in the 2010 Citizens United case, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to permit unlimited political spending by groups acting independently of candidates and campaigns; basically lobbying on steroids. As a direct result of those two court decisions, did you know that the NRA has been able to successfully block the passage of a law that would ban people on the "No Fly List," meaning suspected terrorists, from buying guns? Sure, they may be too dangerous to let on a plane, but by all means, let's give them a gun! We can't even pass a law against suspected terrorists buying guns, so don't expect any real gun control legislation to happen anytime soon. Nothing will change in this country until these two Supreme Court decisions are revisited. Until then, stay safe out there!