Today as many before has given me pause. I was up last night when it started and followed it through the early morning. When I woke this afternoon it was even worse. Not that one life isn’t as important as the other 58 souls who perished. All life is important. The problem I have is we never make changes or learn from the mistakes so we are doomed to repeat it over and over.

The only thing that changes is the location. Common things that don’t change. Innocent people die. Good people die. Innocent people are maimed. Good people are maimed. Military weapons are involved. There is mass outrage and endless stories of the killer and victims.

As far as I can tell the only thing that changes is that those without guns feel the need to have guns to defend themselves from something our government and law enforcement can’t protect us from. Me included.

I’m tired of it being a political football that just gets passed around from time to time. I’m tired of people falling through the cracks that create these situations. Most people feel the Genie is out of the bottle and impossible to put back in. And if you looked at the numbers of legal and illegal guns out there that might be a true fact.

The sad fact is we have become a very violent nation and it’s getting worse fast. And money makes it worse, because those invested in it will lobby and defeat anything that moves the needle to more regulations or checks. I can’t image our forefathers imagining the situation we are in today when those gun laws were written.

So what are we left with. Grief again and again. I don’t have the solution. I like to shoot at a range. I enjoyed shooting skeet as a youth and a few times in the last few years. I’m all for responsible gun ownership. And I’m willing to go through any test or regulations to have them.

All I do know is that we must change in some ways or get used to more of the same. Today was such a pause I didn’t have a photo that I felt fit the day. There is a first.