Despite social media jabber, the 49 dead at Orlando's Pulse nightclub weren't killed by their sexual orientation, or by disapproval of the same, or by the collective adherents of Islam, or by the National Rifle Association. They all died in an act of terrorism committed by one evil man, named Oscar Mateen, and his accomplices, if any.

Nor were Mateen's victims directly killed by gun control, though their ranks were certainly swelled by restrictions that forbade most patrons of the nightclub from carrying the means of self-defense. Unburdened by any scruples about breaking the law, Mateen was not only unhindered by Florida's ban on carrying firearms in bars and nightclubs, he was enabled by its guarantee of a bonanza of relatively defenseless victims once he'd shot his way past the establishment's sole armed defender.

But rather than focus on the murderous Islamist terrorist who did the deed, too many reactions have looked elsewhere to place blame—specifically, the "AR-15" rifle he used to commit his crime (it was actually an MCX, but "AR-15" is the new "assault weapon"—a term of opprobrium used by all right-thinking people).