Orlando. Forty-nine people dead. Shooter pledged allegiance to ISIS. Gay nightclub specifically targeted.

But our response to this is the real problem. Think about that for a second. A shooter killed 49 people and I have to sit here and type out that our response is the problem? That says a lot about the America we live in today.

Everyone talks about the shooter, but no one talks about the victims.

This one falls directly on the media. I’m pissed frankly. You can choose to talk about anything, per your first Amendment rights, yet you chose to talk about the scumbag who intentionally killed 49 people in a club? You had a choice between honoring the victims and spreading a message of unity, or publicizing the shooter and spreading a message of terror, and you chose terror? You had a choice between broadcasting the attention grabbing speeches of Trump and Clinton, or the small messages of hope, like the Illinois man who drove to Florida to hang crosses for victims, and you chose the politicians? The choice of the media continuously ruins our perception of mass shootings. We should be celebrating lives, not building hatred for others. We should be spreading a message of hope, not hatred. It’s up to the media to do that, and they have failed.

Congress is Lucifer.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the era of the “thoughts and prayers” Congress.

“We send out our thoughts and prayers to those affected by the Orlando shooting.”

Guess what Congress? That ain’t gonna fix it! We don’t elect you for your thoughts and prayers, that’s why we have pastors! We elect you for your ability to lead and to make laws. We elect you for times like this, times when the country is begging for strong leadership. The President and the citizenry crave for something out of Congress. But what do we get? Nothing. Nothing, from those who are supposed to lead us.

Why is this happening in Congress? Money.

Let’s face the facts folks. The NRA owns half of Congress. Sure the anti-gun lobby is growing in strength and fundraising ability, but they don’t have the cohesiveness and organization of the NRA. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we can move on. The NRA owns half of Congress, and is using that to block change of ANY type, all the while portraying this as an attack on your 2^nd Amendment rights. If you are a “law-abiding citizen,” as the NRA likes to portray gun owners as, what do you have to fear from increased background checks and a ban on buying guns for those on the no-fly list? Nothing! Go be a law-abiding gun owner in peace, and tell the NRA to give the FBI the tools it needs to catch terrorists.

Stop using deaths for political gain.

If you noticed, the people who had elections at stake were the quickest to fire off tweets and response. Trump and Clinton, Democrats and Republicans. But the only person without political skin in the game, President Obama, simply provided an update and condolences in his first news release. His major speech on the Orlando shootings came a few days later, after a more appropriate time had passed. But Trump? No, within a few hours he had fired off multiple tweets, including one appreciating himself? That’s ridiculous. American politicians need to show some respect, and treat the victims with the reverence they deserve.

Finally, we need to stop asking how, and start asking the right why.

Democrats, after every mass shooting, what is the question you inevitably ask? How did they do this? Which type of gun did they use? How exactly were they able to acquire it?

Once you’ve determined that, you attempt at all costs to ban it. Newsflash: Anyone who is that motivated to kill Americans will acquire the weapons needed to do it. We cannot institute full gun control and be safe, by virtue of the thousands of miles of unsecured borders with Canada and Mexico. You cannot be so naïve to think that those who seek to do us harm will simply look at the law and give up.

Republicans ask better questions, but come to the wrong conclusions. People do not commit these shootings through any interpretation of the Koran or the Bible, plain and simple. Islam and Christianity are not inherently evil.

Faith plays absolutely no role in you deciding to kill fifty people. You know what might though? A mental disorder. James Holmes, Adam Lanza, Omar Mateen, etc.

All had a history of mental issues or illness. People knew they were sick, and sometimes even reported it to the proper authorities, but the information was never acted upon. They needed someone to reach out to them, to give them a simple smile, to help them through the depression or illness, but nobody did. Nobody spoke out to someone who was hurting. Nobody even tried to make a difference in someone else’s life. Each and every person who reads this should feel ashamed by that, because it says a lot about the society we’ve become.

STOP asking how, and start asking the right why.

STOP using deaths for political gain.

STOP talking about the shooter, but start talking about the victims.

STOP being bent over by money.

STOP being self-absorbed, and start helping others.

STOP being divisive, and start being American.