Las Vegas

Gun violence at a music festival in Las Vegas. Over 50 dead, nearly 500 wounded.  A 64-year-old white man fires semi-automatic weapons from a room on the 32d floor of an adjacent casino hotel.  Over 22,000 country music fans, partially penned in by fencing, become a mass target.

The scene resembles much of the violence on television each night, and in movies at every cineplex across the country.  Stories that can seem easy to replicate, from the scenes to the props.

Society reflects what we see in the media, and the media reflects it right back to us.

This is not an all-encompassing explanation.  But if we begin any cause-and-effect list, it must be included.

Hopes and prayers abide.  For now.