Insane gun laws at root of atrocities

How very sad it is that the first-sentence reaction to Sunday’s mass murder at a concert in Las Vegas — at least 58 people killed, more than 500 injured — must contain the word “relief” but it seems unavoidable.

In the few hours between the turkey-shoot slaughter and the public identification of the killer as Stephen Paddock, aged 64 and from Mesquite, about 120km northeast of Las Vegas, it was hard not to wonder what President Donald Trump’s reaction might be had the killer been from IS or another anti-Western terrorist organisation.

Composure, calm, restraint or proportionality are not characteristics of his presidency or personality. His reaction to the greatest mass murder in modern American history had it been a belief-driven attack would probably have been excessive, counter-productive and inflammatory. The air in Afghanistan and maybe Pakistan too would be thick with drones seeking out exemplary if implausible revenge targets.