The US, the people and its congress, all fear Middle East migrants and a Parisian style attack with good reason. The bombing campaign in Syria and Iraq are fuelling widespread hatred of Western countries. The bombing is not “obliterating” ISIS, as Hollande, Cameron and Obama promise, but it is acting as a catalyst and vengeance tool to encourage ISIS suicide bombers. Eventually, and it really is a matter of time, these fanatics will slip though the US security filters or come in through the porous Canadian border. Once a mass killing perpetrated by one of these migrants occurs in the US, there will be hysteria and calls for vengeance throughout the country. The fear mongers on the political platform today will have proved their point. We could well witness a replay of the treatment of the Japanese in world War II, internment or worse, vigilant killings by the American public.

In addition to the external threat there is already the every day threat of mass violence in the US. Hardly a day passes without a gun related killing and each crime is denounced by Obama as “enough is enough” and the American people wring their hands and mourn the victims for a few days. But, unfortunately, neither the American people nor their politicians agree that “enough is enough” because these killings continue unabated. There seem to be multiple reasons for this inaction.

One reason is that neither the people nor the politicians are committed to action; both the people and congress are hostages to the NRA gun lobby, and many are members and supporters of the lobby. Moreover the people in the US.are largely opposed to giving up their guns.

But, alas, the more serious problem resides in the disturbed mindset of the American people and their love affair with guns and violence. The enemy is within the US, and they are its citizens who are, at one and the same time, the perpetrators and victims.

Baoluo