Recently Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was praised for his speech to congress right after a shooter with an assault rifle fired on the Republican baseball team warming up for an annual game with the Democrats in Alexandria, Virginia. His most applauded line was: An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.

I just would like to know who the ALL is? Republicans ? Congress people? White males (even though the shooter was a white male)? Trump supporters? Or ALL Americans? I am hoping he meant the latter.

It has been just over a year (June 12, 2016) since the worse massacre in our history took place when 49 were killed in a mass shooting at the gay Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The shooter though raised in America was a Muslim that had Afghan parents and he had sworn allegiance to the leader of ISIS so this was rightly labeled a terrorist attack. But at the same time it was a hate crime in that the LBGT community was targeted.

I remember that day well. It chilled me in a way no other mass shooting has (with the possible exception of elementary kids getting shot at Sandy Hook.) As a gay woman, it felt personal and I was gripped with a fear that I myself could some day be a target. It was gut wrenching. This was an attack on ALL of my LGBT brothers and sisters. We all sought out comfort from others in our community and I felt heartened by the outpouring of love and support from our heterosexual allies at vigils and prayer services.

It was Latin night at the Pulse with a great number of Latino patrons being killed so Hispanics probably felt the same pain and anger and fear I was experiencing. This was an attack on ALL Latinos.

And with the shooters ties to ISIS, this was an attack on ALL Americans.

Can not that phrase be applied to those in the Black Lives Matter movement that feel an attack on an unarmed black youth is an attack on ALL blacks?

The sniper that wounded Representative and Majority Whip Steve Scalise and his aides and two Capitol Police officers was a fan of Senator Bernie Sanders , one of the Democratic candidates for president in 2016 and according to his Facebook posts he also hated Hillary Clinton . He asked if the players were Republicans or Democrats before opening fire. So this could technically be called a hate crime with the target being GOP politicians or those with a right wing ideology.

In my opinion, both the Pulse Nightclub shooter and the attacker of the GOP baseball team were terrorists fueled by hatred and they were obviously mentally imbalanced. (Terrorist in the broad definition of the word, spreading terror to innocent victims.)

Often the animosity can be traced to a self-hatred. The Orlando terrorist was known to be a frequent patron at the Pulse. Could it be he was a closet gay man unable to accept his own homosexuality? Could it be his Muslim faith caused him to have shame for any yearnings he had for other men?

The Alexandria shooter had a history of domestic violence. Was he abused as a child? Where does this propensity for attacking others come from? The political right will say the left is violent pointing to riots at Berkley University and the political left will say the right wingers push violence with their love of guns and the Second Amendment.

Cant we just agree that violence is morally wrong on either side? Cant we agree that we need to do more to prevent mass shootings whether the target is politicians, gays, blacks, whites, police officers, citizens in a movie theater, worshipers in their places of worship, shoppers in malls, or children in schools?

Can we stop the gun culture of fear that allows insane folks and terrorists to buy what I call weapons of mass destruction? Can we have better background checks and get rid of the gun show loophole? Can we stop letting the NRA have a stranglehold on our nation? Do hunters use assault rifles? I dont think so.

Maybe the silver lining in this latest congressional shooting is that perhaps our representatives will feel that vulnerable and gripping fear of being sitting ducks and they will be moved to act on what we citizens have been feeling for many years. 90% of us want more comprehensive background checks.

Im sure the partisan debate will go on and the brief coming together of both sides will not last. But the bottom line is we have to do something. Mass shootings have become commonplace. No one is safe anymore. Will more guns on the street help or hinder our safety? Can we not look at the example of other nations that have far fewer mass killings than we do?

Besides tamping down on hateful political rhetoric can we not at least agree that insane people should not be allowed to purchase firearms? As far as I can tell that is the one thing all of these mass shooters have had in common. Better health for the mentally ill should be a priority for this nation.

The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again with the same undesired result happening. Its obvious the gun laws we have are not working or they are not being enforced. Maybe we targeted citizens need to take a greater stand for gun safety and maybe just maybe our representatives in DC will join us. Let us remember that an attack on one of us is an attack on ALL of us.