What next? Who is minding the store? How did the Las Vegas gunman sneak all those weapons and ammunition into the huge Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino without anyone even suspecting anything amiss?

The United States is supposed to be a civilized nation. What used to be law and order has become unlawful chaos! Citizens, so called, take advantage of a police shooting to loot and burn their neighborhood merchants. There are few arrests as, during the chaos, no one could tell who did what! Is this to be the norm in our civilized nation? Whether a person is killed in a riot or in a peaceful demonstration, a murder was committed. A weapon had to be bought, or stolen, to commit the act!

If the police in Las Vegas had taken the shooter, Stephen Paddock, alive, what would have been the outcome of the trial? Most of these incidents cost the taxpayers of municipalities millions of dollars for just one trial as our civilized Attorneys battle back and forth, the defense claims temporary insanity, and finally a jury will sometimes, not always, recommend the death penalty for the shooter. Then the waiting for the right opportunity to carry out the sentence, as our civilized Attorneys battle back and forth as to how the miscreant should be annihilated.

With all the to-do concerning the “Worst Mass Shooting in U.S. History”, a few facts could be overlooked. How many of us civilized U.S. Citizens have taken a look at ourselves lately? How many of us have ‘murdered someone in our hearts’ in the near past. That person who cut you off unexpectedly on the highway, did you just yearn to pull out a gun and do away with him or her? How about the person who voted differently than yourself in the recent elections? Would you like to maim, or even kill, that person? (Some crazy things have been happening in recent protests across our nation!) When you went to a gambling resort with all the money you possessed, did you decide in your heart to burn the place down as you left the front door completely broke. Could this have been Stephen Paddock’s beef?

Whatever the reasons for our outrages, have we stopped to think how many people are going to be affected by our negative responses on Twitter and other media outlets? Haven’t we stirred up enough people? This question can be asked, from the President of the United States, to the homeless person on the dusty riverbank!

The plea of most sane-thinking Americans at this time is: Haven’t we seen enough of American killing American just because we happen to be of a different religious or political persuasion? Isn’t it time that neighborhoods begin to act like neighborhoods instead of acting like jungle animals, stalking each other for a few measly dollars or to sate an old grudge? Talk about terrorism! We have more terrorism in one rundown neighborhood in one weekend than the so-called terrorists are actually harming each other or ourselves.

Next time you have an outburst of hatred, stop and ask yourself. Will I harm someone who is responsible for several people? Will I lose my own life or end up being taken out of society for the good of all people? It has been said that Love, not hate, will accomplish more to help humanity than all the protesting and rioting one could do. Think on these things!

A weapon does not kill or harm anyone. It is the hatred behind the weapon that does the damage. Whether a person is murdered with a hatpin or a sub-machine gun, it is hatred in some form that did the job!