ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Now that guns and scapegoats are the new normal, and immigration reform and “refugees” are political weapons, let’s merge the two and devise a reasonable plan for solutions.
Let’s start with Wednesday’s mass killing by, reportedly, a man whose roots are Pakistani and a Pakistani woman who lived in Saudi Arabia and gained entry to the U.S. with a V1 “fiancee” visa.
These two people responsible for the slaughter in a social services center in San Bernardino, California, reportedly were married to each other and were the parents of a 6-month-old daughter who was left in the care of her paternal grandmother while Mommy and Daddy went on a killing spree.
Authorities and the press are wondering aloud when, how and where they were “radicalized.” It’s called trying to nail a motive. The answers — the truth — may never come.
In the meantime, let’s refocus our other lens.
Following the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, the lens zoomed in on radicalized Muslims in general, and Syria and Syrian “refugees” in particular. No more mosque-building. Time to butt-kick ISIS. Time to shut the border.
Then San Bernardino. The reality. The new norm. Whether the killer is a school kid; a jihadi in “Gay Paree”; a disgruntled lover or spouse; an anti-government radical; a crime boss or street thug on a tear; a white-hot racist; a hater of blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians, Indians, homosexuals and their movements; or some maniac who woke up Wednesday morning and went “postal” doesn’t matter.
Accept it. Stop being in denial. Americans are terrorized by all of the above.
Let’s grill those who want to be here before they are given permission.
At every turn, say, “Next in line” and ask, “Are you now or have you ever been a terrorist?”
“Do you plan to become a terrorist?”
“Do you want a gun?”
“The American government offers free anger-management classes. Would you like to enroll?”
And then there’s the issue of civics and government in America’s public schoolhouses, where kids are learning how to have sex before they learn how to locate the Middle East without the help of Google. (“Globe? What’s a globe?”)
And courtesy of social media, they are learning new-age Activism 101: “How to raise Cain without really trying.” (Oh, wait. Who’s Cain? The guy taking the cellphone video?)
Tightening the screws on law-abiding Americans and immigrants who want to own and carry firepower will not end the new norm, the ongoing nightmare. Nor will declaring us all mentally ill. (Talk about passive-aggressive behavior!)
Americans hellbent on nullifying the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution are resurrecting the Saul Alinsky school of thought: Shake, rattle and roll on an issue at every turn. And when horrific shootings occur, the issue is gun control.
President Obama pumped up that message in October in the presence of chiefs of police, saying: “There are those who criticize any gun safety reforms by pointing to my hometown [of Chicago] as an example. The problem with that argument, as the Chicago Police Department will tell you, is that 60 percent of guns recovered in crimes come from out of state. You’ve just got to hop across the border.”
The problem with that take is that Mr. Obama failed to mention that black genocide was the guilty partner.
Mr. Obama and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) also leaned into the San Bernardino case, offering scapegoats.
“We don’t know the motive,” CAIR spokesman Hussam Ayloush said Wednesday evening. “Is it work-rage-related? Is it mental illness? Is it extreme ideology?”
The president, for his part, dove into the echo chamber several hours later in the Oval Office, saying midday Thursday: “It is possible that this was terrorist-related, but we don’t know. It’s also possible that this was workplace-related.”
Who’s really responsible for pulling the triggers?
Speaking the truth is the always-opinionated, never-camera-shy Deion Sanders. The Associated Press caught up with the retired baseball and football great Wednesday night at Footwear News’ 29th annual Achievement Awards in New York City, where he whacked the proverbial nail on the head.
Said Mr. Sanders, who attended services and study classes at Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church in D.C. while playing for the Redskins: “I don’t think that guns [are] picking up themselves and pulling triggers on [their] own. I think people are doing that. It says more about people than it says about guns.”
And then he slew the gun-control dragon: “I’m not an advocate of ignorance or violence whatsoever, but we need to really look at people. This is happening in the inner cities on a daily basis.”
That, ladies and gentlemen, is our new norm.
Pay the man.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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