In the aftermath of a tragedy, such as the horrible attack in Las Vegas, we seem to all agree upon a lie.

Our politicians and our media are clearly disconnected from the facts of our everyday lives. They do not see what is in plain sight of everyone willing to open their eyes and see. Anyone paying attention can see that this is absolutely not a nation of racism and hate, but seeing this is in direct contradiction to the news and social media evaluation of our society.

For nearly a decade, our Police have been demonized. Lie after lie was promoted. When proven to be false, the media would find a new lie and promote it. In their drive for ratings, they failed to see that they were promoting hate. Or, possibly, they did not care. Living outside of their bubble, it is hard for me to tell. I’m just a philosopher, I get confused sometimes.

Add social media to the mix. The mentally weak people, the sick people, and the violent-prone people are fed a nonstop diet of hate. The most disrespectful and idiotic behavior is given the most likes and shares. People push the envelope hoping for something they do or say to become viral.

The threats of violence escalate. People openly call for someone to commit acts of violence for them. They toy with different ways of expressing violent actions in order to coin a new viral phrase in hopes of a trending hashtag. They carry threats of violence closer and closer to the edge, and one is often left with the sense that they actually enjoy seeing people they disagree with suffer and squirm and alter their lives because of the threat of violence.

Yet we are surprised when violence happens.

Aren’t we?

Well, I think we must be surprised beyond belief. Because after violence happens we start another round of hand-wringing and fretting about how we have to do SOMETHING. And then all of the ideas put forward by our betters in Washington end up being things that would have done absolutely nothing to prevent the event which shocked us so.

Currently, the banter in Washington following the horrible attack in Las Vegas has politicians discussing the banning of bump stocks. I am going to be honest and tell you that I had heard of bump stocks before but really knew little about them. They are an available accessory to the so-called “assault rifles” that can make a semi-auto shoot almost like a fully auto. I remember noticing a change in the rate of fire when watching the many films of the Las Vegas attack, but I didn’t know that was a tell-tale sign of a bump stock. Experts probably knew immediately that this was not a military-grade weapon being used, but I confess I did not. My rifle experience right now is limited to lever-action cowboy-style guns.

I have a lot of gun-enthusiast friends, but I have not known any of them to even own a bump stock. The gun friends I have are more interested in things like accuracy. If you want your accuracy to go down, go fully automatic. If you want clean accurate shots and tight grouping, stay semi-auto.

Ban bump stocks. Okay. The issue then becomes, what next? Because I can tell you, if someone wants to kill a bunch of people, lack of access to a bump stock is not going to deter them. Look at the many terror attacks in Europe, where they have no 2nd Ammedment. The terrorists use big trucks and knives and illegally obtained guns to murder. When the objective is murder, the details do not matter to those who are sick enough to go that route.

The difference between you and the people who commit these murderous acts is simple- if I gave you my rifle, fully loaded and also gave you a box of ammunition, would your first impulse be to kill a bunch of people? No? Good! We can still be friends.

There is nothing you can do to prevent a sicko from trying to kill a bunch of people if that is what he has decided to do. We lie to ourselves when we pretend there is an answer that will prevent these incidents. Ban all guns, they will use knives and swords. Ban knives and swords, they will use trucks and rocks. Ban trucks and rocks, they will use tall buildings and…

When we agree to lie to ourselves, this does not make the lie suddenly become a truth, it is still just a lie. We all want to feel better after a tragedy. But in a search for answers, we should not neglect the truth. If we could stop demonizing one another, and rediscover the now lost art of honest dialogue, we could all work toward ideas to make these hateful acts less frequent.