Thoughts on Las Vegas

After Sunday's heartbreaking tragedy in Las Vegas, it's time to pause and reflect.

The sheer magnitude of one of America's deadliest mass shootings—killing at least 59 and wounding more than 500—is difficult to grasp. 59, 500; these are mind-numbing figures that summon to the mind images of battle and warfare, not country music on a Sunday evening.

To think of the number of lives upended or destroyed by one depraved gunman's villainy is by turns defeating and infuriating. This needless, entirely avoidable slaughter is merely the latest episode in a series of similar horrors that our country can't yet seem to shake.

We are in the midst of an ongoing catastrophe, and one has to ask: why? Why do we live in a country where someone can buy the kinds of military-grade weapons that allow them to shoot 600 people in a matter of minutes?

We here in Corte Madera are fortunate to live in a close, safe, and loving community. As we continue our work to make sure this town stays that way, we should continue with a mind to what we can do to extend the peace and safety we enjoy here to other communities in the Bay Area and California, and to the rest of the country as a whole.

My deepest gratitude goes out to the law enforcement officials and other public servants who work every day to keep us safe here at home, and to the brave officers in Las Vegas whose gallant response to the call of duty undoubtedly saved many innocent lives.