My wife awakened me this morning to tell me about the mass shooting in Las Vegas. The number of dead then numbered 50, making it the worst mass shooting in modern American history, it has since climbed to 59. More than 500 others were injured from not just gunfire, but shrapnel, trampling and other trauma involved with fleeing the scene.

Just 24 hours later, what we don't know is still far more than what we've learned. We know who the shooter was. We know how many guns he had. We know where he attacked from.

We don't know why he did what he did. We don't know how he acquired his guns—legally or illegally. We don't know how long he'd been planning this atrocity—and it's clear this wasn't a spur-of-the-moment attack. We don't know why he chose the country music concert. We don't know if he had a history of mental problems. We don't know what his politics are or if they had anything to do with driving him to do this.

Speaking from ignorance

It didn't take too long for the usual suspects for whom everything is a nail and more gun control is the hammer to start pontificating from their ignorance.

Senator Ed Markey:

Let’s close the loophole that allows straw purchasers to buy guns and flood our streets with them.

— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) October 2, 2017

First, we don't know yet if the Las Vegas shooter got his guns via straw purchases or not.

Second, newsflash for Markey: Straw purchases are already illegal. Maybe it would be good if Democrats started treating it like one.

Stuart Smalley, senator from the state that elected Jesse Ventura their governor, had this to say:

While the sentiments at the top are nice, he closes with this statement:

I know many of you feel frustrated that we won’t ever address gun violence. But we cannot give up. ... There are simple, commonsense—and widely supported—fixes we can make. We owe it to the victims and their families.

What those fixes are, Franken can't be bothered to reveal. But here's the thing: We don't know just yet—and neither does Franken—if any proposed solution would've stopped Sunday night's massacre.

Let's talk

Earlier this morning KVEC 920 AM afternoon show host Dave Congalton asked me if I wanted to come on the radio tonight "to explain why we don't need to be banning guns" after the events in Las Vegas. I couldn't make it because of a previous commitment. Instead, I'll be on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.

But Dave's question is an honest one, especially compared to much of our political class. There are many on the left who want to ban all guns. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is one of the few politicians who have been honest about her goals, mostly because in gun-control mad California, it doesn't hurt her.

Dave, who is politically left-of-center, gives away the game with his question. As I noted in response to a New Republic tweet on twitter:

Yesterday: "No one is talking about taking away your guns, you paranoid gun nut."

Today: https://t.co/TfL6yugurw

— Matthew Hoy (@hoystory) October 3, 2017

Tomorrow we'll get into the details of what it might look like if the government tried to ban the 300+ million legally-owned firearms in this country. If you want to start a civil war, attempting to abrogate the Second Amendment is a good way to start it.