IT’S difficult to comprehend the reasons behind the barbaric murder of 49 people at a Florida gay nightclub earlier this week.
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Much has been written already about the lone gunman responsible for this shocking and brutal attack, Omar Mateen.
But as the investigations continue into Mateen and the possible reasons behind the mass shooting, evidence is starting to mount linking him with radical terrorist group Islamic State.
It was reported on Tuesday that Mateen told a police dispatcher that he was attacking the Pulse nightclub on behalf of the leader of IS. It is understood he was also a regular at the club.
Prior to Mateen's link to radical terrorists emerging, community and worldwide outrage quickly focused on his seemingly easy access he had to semi-automatic weapons, such as the AR-15 assault rifle used in the attack.
Remember, this is a man the FBI had investigated on at least two occasions due to allegations he was linked with terrorist groups.
The US obsession with firearms beggars belief.
What is equally as perplexing is the reaction to the shooting by powerful US gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, which still refuses to express openly the link between mass shootings in the US and the proliferation of weapons in that country.
Since Barack Obama became president in 2009, there have been as many as 30 mass shootings in the US. What will it take before a political party or leader has the courage to do what's right – bring in stricter gun laws?
The gun lobby can deny the facts all they like, but the US holds the unenviable title of the most gun-related deaths per head of capita in the world at almost nine for every 100,000 people. The US makes up about 4.4 per cent of the world's population, but owns just over 40 per cent of the world's privately held firearms.
A ban on the type of weapon Matten used in Orlando may not have prevented this shooting spree, but there's little doubt the obscenely high level of gun ownership in that country is responsible for the senseless number of shooting deaths we witness almost on a weekly basis there.
The right to bare arms may be written in to the US constitution, but nowhere does it say innocent people and their loved ones need to constantly live in fear from being killed by someone with an assault rifle.
