Many people have a very narrow definition of terrorism -- it's always related to a political stance. So 9/11 was a terrorist act, as were the car attacks in France and Germany and the shooting massacres in Mumbai and Paris.
And it's interesting that all of those were related to Islamic terrorists. Because, in America, there is the common belief that terrorists have to be brown male Muslims to be "real terrorists."
I don't believe that.
I believe the act of a mass shooting, mass bombing or car attack by a disaffected person of any gender, race, religion, or ethnic background is a terrorist attack. Those random attacks on people they don't know are meant to inspire terror and fear. Anyone called a lone wolf, which which American mass murderers are typically called, is really a terrorist.
Yes, the Las Vegas massacre was a terrorist act, as was Pulse, as was Sandy Hook, as was Virginia Tech, as was Oklahoma City, as were the Unibomber bombings well, the list goes on.
So long as our government is only looking at the danger of Muslim terrorists, they will continue to ignore the murders enabled by our government's lenient view on the danger of guns, particularly the danger of semi-automatic and automatic weapons that some nutjobs are able to get and use.
Why do you think, in most terrorist acts in Europe in recent years, terrorists used knives and trucks and not guns? Guns are restricted in much of Europe, meaning gun deaths are not nearly as common there as they are here, whether by terrorists or everyday criminals. http://www.humanosphere.org/science/2016/06/visualizing-gun-deaths-comparing-u-s-rest-world/.
How many more massacres will we have in this country before the Congress and our state legislators stand up to the NRA and say enough is enough!
When you write about these massacres, never use the murderer's name and never care about their "rationale" for murder. Don't give them additional publicity. Only talk about the location of the murders, and what we must do to fight these terrorists - pass better gun and ammunition laws. And elect legislators with the guts to stand up to the NRA.
#LasVegasMassacre #ActForVegas #PassSaneGunLaws
Some folks on Twitter have done a good job in reminding us that, in some state law, there is no connection between the political/religions/ethnic beliefs of a person and terrorist murders like those committed in Las Vegas on 10/2/2017. Here is the definition of terrorism for in the laws of the state of Nevada:
More details on Nevada laws about terrorism.
US law definition of domestic terrorism:
More details on US laws about domestic terrorism.
The CIA view of terrorism is slightly different.
