Horror, Again (The Orlando Terror Attack)

With at least 50 people dead and at least that many more wounded after a well-executed Saturday night/Sunday morning assault on a dance club in Orlando, Florida, today's not the time for finger-pointing or Monday morning quarterbacking.

This is the time to allow the families of victims to grieve while law enforcement agencies do their jobs.

Granted, anti-gun political hacks will likely break into their well-worn and tiresome blood dance, calling for new anti-gun laws to prevent this kind of occurrence for happening again.

It was pointed out - early on and at length - that the shooter, despite an ex-wife who described him as "violent" and having been investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 for extremist comments was able to legally purchase two guns he apparently used in his attacks.

That is, unfortunately, a risk associated with a free society. To the FBI's credit, they're not dodging questions regarding the thoroughness of their investigations, nor are they failing to point out that presumption of innocence is a fundamental of our justice system.

It would be equally simple for the pro-gun groups to start tooling up "action alerts" calling for action by Second Amendment supporters. You know, those "send money" letters.

Fortunately, I was assured yesterday afternoon by high-ranking officials in several of those pro-gun organizations that that's not happening. That's a high-road decision that ultimately benefits everyone.

Today, we're obsessed with instant answers to any question.

Unfortunately googling "how can we stop terrorism" won't bring you a ninety-second video that answers that question.

There's no instant answer to stopping a lone wolf attack.

I spoke at length yesterday afternoon with a variety of the contacts I've made over the past four decades in the news business.

From federal officials in Washington to law enforcement officers on the ground in Orlando. And what I gathered from those conversations was a collective sense of frustration and a short list of "givens" when it comes to unexpected acts of raw violence that seem so senseless to the rest of us.

The first, accepted by everyone from Secret Service agents and Congressmen and beat cops patrolling downtown Orlando, is this: it is virtually impossible to stop lone wolf attacks.

As a former agent told me, "it's simpler to stop an army than one person who's acting alone and not afraid to die."

Another is that wringing collective hands and suggesting more laws and less privacy is the answer is not the answer.

There are, I have been assured, a more than sufficient number of laws and provisions in place today to allow for the investigation of possible threats.

More alarmingly, however, they tell me there's a "justified reluctance" to follow through on the District of Columbia's admonition "See something? Say something." After all, they say, you face the risk of being considered a kook by police or a lawsuit for hate speech if you dare call anyone "suspicious".

There is no easy answer. In fact, there are few answers at all.

Terror isn't an easy thing for any of us to comprehend. It's especially difficult to accept the fact that radicals see terrorism - especially the home-grown, lone-wolf variety - as their winnable war.

They are at war with us. The question is how to go to war against them without destroying any more of the things that make us the U.S. in the process.

That answer, as the popular dodge goes in Washington: "is above my pay grade."

Republished from The Outdoor Wire.