To Democrats, Terrorism is Always About Something Else

As the country waited to hear from Barack Obama on Sunday afternoon, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump asked on Twitter: “Is President Obama going to finally mention the words radical Islamic terrorism?”

And then Obama took to the podium and answered the question with a resounding “No.”

He admitted it was terrorism, but he made no mention of Islam. He made no mention of our ongoing (if incoherent and ineffective) war on ISIS. He failed to link the Orlando shooting to 9/11, the bombing at the Boston Marathon, or the slaughter in Paris last November. Instead, he once again used this tragedy as a political platform for his liberal agenda. No mention of Islam, but plenty of talk about gay rights, American values, and – of course – guns.

“The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle,” Obama said. “This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well.”

To Obama and the Democrats who believe as he does, Omar Mateen was a “terrorist” in the same way James Holmes was a terrorist. The same way Dylann Roof was a terrorist. The same way Adam Lanza was a terrorist. And while it’s true that this might not mean much to the families of the dead either way, it means everything to the families who don’t yet realize that there will come a day when they are the ones mourning.

Anyone who still believed that “gun control” would save us from terrorism should have been startled out of their ignorance by the Paris attacks last year. In a country with some of the strictest gun laws in the world, terrorists still managed to use those weapons to kill more than a hundred innocent people. When a radical wants to kill, they will find a way to do so. They may use guns. But they may also use fertilizer. Pressure cookers. Machetes. Even, as we all know, box cutters.

“Weapons of war have no place on our streets,” said Hillary Clinton on Sunday.

And yeah, that makes for a fine soundbite, but it misses the crucial truth: In the hands of an Islamic holy warrior, everything from a car to a common household appliance can be turned into a “weapon of war.”

Under the leadership of those who rush to make terrorism about anything and everything other than radical Islam, it will only be a matter of time before we once again hear that harrowing phrase: “Worst in American history.”