In wake of nightclub shooting, Orlando City coach Adrian Heath wants to know when U.S. will get rid of big guns
Running off at the typewriter …
The sheer magnitude of the
Orlando nightclub shooting has renewed a national and international debate on gun control — a controversial issue on which
Orlando City coach
Adrian Heath is not bashful about expressing an opinion.
Heath grew up in England, where personal handguns are outlawed and police — until recent terrorist attacks in Europe — didn't even carry guns themselves. Heath, like many of us, is astounded that someone like Orlando shooter
Omar Mateencould go from being on a terrorist watch list to walking into a store and walking out with a military assault rifle.
"I don't know of anybody who can have a rational argument [against gun control] under these circumstances," says Heath, who describes himself as politically conservative. "The hard part for people around the world to get their head around is the gun culture in this country. I spent my life in Britain and I never knew one person who had ever owned a gun when I arrived in America. And then I arrived in Texas and, suddenly, everybody I knew owned more than one gun.

Neither can Toronto Maple Leafs goalie
Garret Sparks, who spent two years playing with the Orlando Solar Bears.
"Orlando was my home," Sparks tweeted after the tragedy. "It is a peaceful, beautiful and tolerant city. There is no excuse for this to happen. America has a gun problem. #WakeUp."
Sparks was even more adamant in a later tweet: "Guns shouldn't be in the hands of civilians on a crowded public street anywhere. Not in America, not on Mars."
Even conservative Fox News commentator
Bill O'Reilly is starting to question how easy it is for sick and deranged monsters like Mateen to get their hands on rapid-fire military assault rifles with high-capacity magazines.
Question: Didn't America once go to war over weapons of mass destruction in another country? Why then won't we eradicate these weapons of mass destruction within our own borders?
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-mike-bianchi-saturday-circus-0618-20160617-column.html