Trump's silence on gun control says: It's sad about your loved ones, but I need the NRA's cash

Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Every time you place faith in the American people to demand change, that faith is misplaced. And every time you expect somebody – literally anybody – to display a shred of leadership and do what’s right, you’re going to be left waiting.

Last night it happened again – just like we knew it would. Fifty people were mercilessly gunned down in the blink of an eye. At least 400 more were injured, and scores have been left fighting for their lives. Their crime? Daring to go out in public.

Tens of thousands of people had flocked to the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas to let their hair down and enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of America’s vibrant country music scene. But right in the middle of the festival’s final act, a complete and utter lunatic began indiscriminately raining bullets down on that crowd from the 32^nd floor of a nearby hotel.

The hysteric scene that unfolded was absolutely heart-wrenching. It was downright petrifying. They’re already billing this as the deadliest mass shooting in American history. But the story is only too familiar.

A “regular Joe” snaps, exercises his legal right to load up on enough ammunition to take on an invading army and then lets loose on anybody he can find. It happened last summer in Orlando. It happened at Virginia Tech in 2007, and Sandy Hook in 2012. It happened at Fort Hood and San Bernardino. It happened in Aurora, Binghamton, Roseburg and Charleston.

Every year, more people get hurt. More people get killed. More communities get destroyed.

You’d think that we as a nation would have drawn a few bitter lessons from these acts of evil. You’d think we’d be ready to throw our hands up, say “enough is enough” and agree to sacrifice an archaic constitutional right for the greater good. But out there on the streets, these mass shootings just seem to nonsensically reinvigorate America’s pig-headed infatuation with firearms.

Children are getting gunned down literally every day, and still public attitudes remain firmly embedded in the 18^th century. And you know what? That’s because attitude reflects leadership – and we haven’t got any to work with.

Hell, we’ve just witnessed the deadliest mass shooting in American history, and the only guidance our President can muster is to tell us we should lower the flag to half-mast.

In a sombre address before the nation, Trump took to the airwaves this morning encouraging us to seek solace in biblical scripture. He praised the “miraculous speed” of local authorities in killing last night’s assailant, and promised to visit Las Vegas in the days to come. Yet above all else, he told us he was praying “for the day when evil is banished, and when the innocent are safe from hatred and from fear”.

And this symbolic waffle took him 10 hours to come up with?

No mention of gun control, or whether it makes sense for a law-abiding citizen to purchase 10 rifles and enough ammunition to kill over 50 people. No mention of the need to strengthen background checks or ban automatic weapons. No guidance or call to action. No clear path forward. No nothing.

Trump stood at that podium, looked America in the eye and spent 300 seconds trying to placate us with hollow words that won’t get us anywhere. You could almost hear him making this exact same speech three months from now.

Donald Trump isn’t going to do a damn thing to prevent this from happening again – but let’s get real. The President’s meaningless calls for unity are only symptomatic of a wider leadership vacuum – and this masochistic lack of interest in standing up for what’s right is bipartisan, too.

Vast swathes of Congressmen and women are simply too terrified to defy the mulish sadists and NRA drones who turned out for them at the ballot box, and so we’re never going to get more than “thoughts and prayers” from the only people in this country capable of forcing through real change in our country. When innocent people are killed, our leaders equate proactivity with controversial, political suicide. They care more about rocking the boat and preserving opinion polls than they care about our lives.

That’s why these shootings are going to keep happening. That’s why it’s only going to get worse. We need leaders who will stand up and offer a radical, legislative solution. We need officials who will grow a pair and choose to do what's right. And we need them now – before it's too late.