Over the last 9 years 971,000 Americans have been killed or wounded by gunfire.

Well, never mind. For a minute or two the members of Congress will be remembering the 59 slaughtered people in Las Vegas in their “thoughts and prayers”, won’t they – before bowing in gratitude to the NRA for further election funds.

“Thoughts and prayers”? Hypocritical balderdash! The National Rifle Association and the Federal and State legislators who resist, nay, encourage, the purchase of lethal firearms with ever more killing power – all of them are complicit in this shameful and seemingly endless slaughter, and should be kept in a safe place, away from gunfire (maybe in the private jails they have designed for poor and coloured people who smoke pot and listen to loud, un-listenable-to music?), until only shotguns for hunting are allowed to be sold, ammunition sales are severely curtailed, and police safety inspections in homes are compulsory.

And to think that the U.S House of Representative was about to vote on a bill allowing free use of silencers on guns, so that innocent people could be shot as silently as the so-called “prayers” being uttered by the politicians. That has had to be postponed until the liberal noise and fuss has died down. Tut, tut!

P.S: So many people don’t “do” irony. To make it clear in non-ironic terms: the Republican legislators supporting the legalisation of ever more destructive assault rifles should be jailed until they develop the backbone to stand up to the National Rifle Association, or National Mayhem Association as it is known in Epicurean circles. The present situation is immoderate, cruel and immoral.