Johnson Takes Right Approach on Orlando Shootings

On one hand, you have a presidential candidate trying to blame the president for some deranged lunatic indiscriminately murdering innocents Sunday morning.

In an almost entirely unprecedented moment, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, suggested in interviews Monday morning that President Obama may have somehow been involved in Sunday’s massacre in Orlando.

On the other hand, you do have our own president – at least his surrogates – saying it’s another example of “gun violence.”

“The tragic shooting in Orlando — which specifically targeted the LGBT community — is the latest example of the epidemic of gun violence in our country,” said Katie Hogan of President Obama’s “Organizing for America.”

No, Mr. President, it’s terrorism.

Same goes for you, Gov. McAuliffe:

I’m heartbroken by the news of sons & daughters lost last night in Orlando. Praying for victims, families & an end to senseless gun violence

— Terry McAuliffe (@GovernorVA) June 12, 2016

Mrs. Clinton concurs and said assault weapons are to blame and should be banned, circa her position in the 1990s.

However, I will give Trump some credit:

“If you had guns in that room, if you had—even if you had a number of people having them strapped to their ankle or strapped to their waist, where bullets could have flown in the other direction right at him, you wouldn’t have had the same kind of a tragedy,” he said on Fox News.

Very true. But can we please have some sanity?

Enter Gary Johnson, Libertarian candidate for president with some balanced perspective:

“In this immediate aftermath of what is clearly a tragic and despicable attack, our thoughts must be with the victims,” Johnson said while he monitored events from New Mexico. “Regardless of what the motivation is ultimately found to be, this violence against innocent people simply going about their lives is both cowardly and infuriating. We must allow the authorities to do their jobs, understand how this attack came about, and then respond accordingly. It is not a time to either politicize or jump to conclusions.”

Thank God. Leadership.

It’s not 10-second sound bites, flippant dismissals, calls for changing our Constitution, calls for bombing people, etc.

It’s about actually working on the problem – with rational, strategic thinking. Imagine that.