There are a few things I know for sure.

I won’t pretend for a moment that I have all the right answers to problems as complicated as terrorism, hate crime and gun violence. My opinions are colored by experience, politics and personal values as are everyone’s. I am well aware others passionately disagree with me on some key issues like the idea that we should request at least as much bother from a man who wants to buy a guy as we do from a woman who wants to make a decision about what to do with her body.
 
I probably have more questions than answers and despite all the opinions that have been offered by politicians and average citizens alike, none of my questions have been answered to satisfaction in the last 4 days.
 
However, like Oprah, there are some things that I just know for sure.

Here are a few:
 
Of course the horror in Orlando is about guns; not just guns but how can we ignore the use of an assault rifle which could and should be banned without any infringement to constitutional rights. How can we continue to ignore the differences between gun violence in the U.S. and all the other industrialized countries around the world?
 
Of course the horror in Orlando is about homophobia; not just homophobia but how is it possible to proffer hundreds of anti-GLBT laws around the country and be surprised that extremists take it to the next level? How can some American religious leaders speak of the LGBTQ community with  contempt and hate on one day and then react with shock the next?
 
Of course the horror in Orlando is about terrorism; but not just terrorism as the terrorist was born in New York, an American. So how will building walls and banning immigrants prevent Americans from committing acts of terror against other Americans?
 
Sunday I read a meme; a picture of a frowning, angry bald eagle with the words. “We are at war with Islam.” It was posted by a man on Facebook who said he was a pastor. I commented, “We are at war with 1.6 billion people, 2.6 million of whom live in the United States?”
 
I didn’t get a response.
 
I know for sure we are not at war with Islam.
 
I don’t have all the right answers to these horrendously complicated problems but I know for sure that a good start is addressing  assault weapons and the areas of gun control overwhelmingly favored by a majority of Americans, calling out discrimination in the guise of religious freedom for what it is, calling a crime motivated solely by hate a hate crime and owning up to our own xenophobia.
 
These are things I know for sure.