It’s always a hard watch on television – another gun spree in the USA.
And the grim stats in the aftermath of the shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio are chilling.
There are more gun massacres in the USA this year than there have been days of the year.
And so it is only right that I should reflect on this picture of me letting off rounds in Machine Gun Vegas a couple of years ago.
Is it right then to play with guns?
In a less questioning age, when I was a child in the Seventies, I played Cowboys and Indians, and had toy guns in my holster.
Like any kid back then.
I’ve taken a different view as I grow up and become a father.
Before it was pointed out to me that I am happy to watch Tarantino movies.
Machine Gun Vegas is like a golf driving range for gun enthusiasts, men and women, young to old.
The security and training before you pick up any gun is thorough, as you would expect, and it is made perfectly clear that these are no toys.
America’s gun culture is, of course, foreign to those of us who don’t live there.
And Nevada’s gun laws were heavily criticised following the atrocity there.
Of course, it does seem strange to our minds to imagine what the combination of losing your shirt at the tables, drink and access to guns can bring about.
Listen and learn
I make a general rule of asking, and not pontificating, when abroad. And particularly about politics.
And where I can, and it is safe to, I search out those who will give me the answers.
We should never be without an opinion.
And it is right that we have been vocal about the Civil Rights Movement in America, Apartheid in South Africa and much else around the world.
It is America, though, which is best placed to find its own answers on how best to address gun massacres in their country,
For now though in the toxic atmosphere that is prevailing, the battle lines of public opinion are drawn.
And it needs a peacemaker to help to try to defuse that.
It’s Vegas, baby
The atrocity in Vegas so soon after I had gone chilled me to the bone.
I would say that I found Vegas, safe, clean and friendly and would advise that you should go…. you’ll love it.
Visit www.lvca.com. And www.machinegunvegas.com, And while they say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas I share my review with you… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/vegas-strip-the-light-fantastic/
And tell me what you think?