Several years ago my wife, a dance teacher, purchased costume straight jackets from a Halloween store online to use in a dance recital. As result of that purchase, our home was searched without a warrant and an FBI agent and 2 police officers showed up at our place of business to question my wife in the evening. If that single innocent purchase could trigger such an investigation, how is it that the shooter was not personally investigated at his home?
The police or FBI had every right to probe the Vegas shooter and keep him on a highly suspicious watch. You will see ... there will be loads of red flags by the time this investigation is through. I am confident clues were overlooked and balls were dropped. Just as we found with the 9/11 perpetrators who came from Saudi Arabia who wanted to takeoff but not land, and many of the other mass murderers.
Maybe it is too much to ask, and it is unreasonable to expect authorities to foil every crazy evil person's murderous scheme. But for sure there will be lessons from Vegas that will lead to new training, new procedures and practises to help keep us safe.
Unfortunately we are paying a higher and higher price for the freedoms we enjoy! Evil is exacting a toll on society and our psyche. This includes the relentless verbal assaults on one another by one another via social media and the mainstream media. Even the exercise of free speech is brutalizing us, regardless of one's party affiliation. The other side is quick to dehumanize us with insults, accusations, and just plain contempt.
All of this wears us down. The price of our freedom is diminishing the things that bind our society. A high price indeed. And for some, the cost is too high. For those, the result is fear & anxiety, depression, emptiness, and loneliness. Sometimes, the consequence manifests as rage. When this happens, the response can be suicide, or worse - an act of violence - rage against the machine.
My wife has given me one answer -- turn it off. I expect that will be the next big trend. People need to escape. I know I do.
