On the Side| Brad Hicks

While my wife and I were packing last week in preparation for our move from Texas, there was ample time to listen to talk radio discussions about the terrible attack in the Orlando nightclub.

It’s appalling the way people race to use these types of incidents to further their own causes.

Immediately, some people blamed the gun. Well, yeah, a gun was used, and it would have been much more difficult to kill that many people without one – unless of course it would have been an attack with some type of explosive device. 

Some people blamed “radical Islamic terrorists.” It’s pretty clear the guy had some sort of grievance against the U.S. and that his Muslim upbringing had something to do with his behavior. He made phone calls to law enforcement during the act, making that very claim. On the flip side, there is no direct link of his actions to foreign or domestic terror leaders who may have helped his plan.

The president did the nation no favors, basically blaming Republi-cans for the catastrophe because of their support of the Second Amendment. The GOP fired back and said the president has a real problem with enemy identification.

Gun advocates said an armed citizen in the night club might have taken out the killer before he took so many lives. 

Trump and Clinton got into it, of course.

Sometimes, we need a time to mourn. It lends perspective, and slows the flow of ill-considered words. 

Man, did we need that last week.

Brad Hicks is the Editor/Publisher of the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at publisher@redoakexpress.com.