One year ago today, in the wee hours of the morning in New Orleans, the party was still going strong. That’s hardly surprising for New Orleans, but especially with the Sugar Bowl set to be played later in the day. People were enjoying themselves, looking forward to 2025.
For 14 innocent people, though, that never happened. They were massacred by an ISIS-inspired terrorist. 57 others were injured, mostly by being plowed into by a full-sized Ford pickup truck.
While guns were involved, none of the dead were killed by a gunshot.
The terrorist exited the vehicle and opened fire, injuring a few people and killing no one, but in the process, he actually showed the world something important about the gun debate that far too few people really seemed interested in talking about.
See, the tool of destruction here was the truck. He killed 14 people and injured more than 50 with a vehicle that anyone can buy without a background check, that isn’t limited by fuel capacity or anything else, and isn’t regulated in any way to prevent such an awful attack.
The evil, vicious guns that are always the main culprit in mass shootings were used to shoot five people, but didn’t claim any lives.
Weird, isn’t it?
The problem that was exposed is that if someone wants to kill a lot of people, they’ll find a way, but also that guns aren’t automatically fatal to people, even an AR-10, which has a much beefier round than the much-vilified AR-15.
For all the demonization of so-called assault weapons, one was used here, and it wasn’t the weapon that cost so many lives. That was the Ford F-150. It was an electric version of the truck, so the environmentalists should be thrilled, but the truth of the matter is that it showed us that guns aren’t instantly fatal, that it takes more than using a rifle to create a staggering death toll.
The killer here killed more than most mass shooters, and it was all with the vehicle.
Again, a vehicle he can obtain without a background check, without a license, that may be registered, but that clearly didn’t help, and that no one thought of taking away from him until he could prove he wasn’t a threat to himself or others.
Hell, he didn’t even have to worry about a waiting period.
The attack was an awful occurrence, and while I can be snarky, I’m not making light of what happened. 14 innocent people were killed, and 57 others were hurt. That’s not something to make light of.
But we can and should learn that the threats to us aren’t because of the tool. It’s always because of the tool using it. Whether it’s a gun, a knife, a pickup, or something else, where evil lives, there will be the opportunity for someone to kill and to try and kill as many as possible. This is especially true when you’re dealing with someone who is convinced not just of their own righteousness, but that God will reward them for doing such awful things.
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