Photo: AP

Monday night, the National Rifle Association finally broke its silence on the attack that killed 49 people at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub this weekend, predictably blaming the deadliest mass shooting in American history on everything other than our nation’s lax gun control laws.

In an op-ed titled “Gun laws don’t deter terrorists,” chief NRA lobbyist Chris W. Cox argued that limiting access to firearms has failed to completely stop terrorist shootings in the West, making further legislation “the definition of insanity.” Instead, suggested Cox, America must defeat terrorism by defeating terrorists, something the Obama administration has apparently failed to do because of “political correctness.” From USA TODAY:

The terrorist in Orlando had been investigated multiple times by the FBI. He had a government-approved security guard license with a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security. Yet his former co-workers reported violent and racist comments. Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s political correctness prevented anything from being done about it.

[...]

It’s time for us to admit that radical Islam is a hate crime waiting to happen. The only way to defeat them is to destroy them — not destroy the right of law-abiding Americans to defend ourselves.

Cox didn’t clarify how, exactly, the FBI might have stopped Omar Mateen if it had been less politically correct, which is understandable, given that the agency still lacked evidence of a crime after reportedly using wiretaps and an undercover informant to investigate him.