Trump is wrong: Violence shatters our unity and breaks our bonds every single day | Helen Ubiñas

In his short speech about the Las Vegas attack, President Trump said:

"Our unity cannot be shattered by evil, our bonds cannot be broken by violence."

It's a nice-enough sentiment. But it's not true.

Our unity is shattered, and our bonds are broken by violence in this country every single day.

That's in the daily, mostly ignored, violence in cities across the country. (In Philadelphia alone, there's one shooting every six hours. So far this year, 231 people have been killed in the city.)

That's in the horrific mass shootings that have long become our new normal. (There's a mass shooting almost every day in the United States. So far this year, there have been 273 mass shootings. )

This chaos has become so normal that our hash-tagged thoughts and prayers are on auto-pilot. So are our empty commitments of reform.

BuzzFeed reporter Lindsey Adler tweeted about the depressing reality that the breaking-news team had to develop "a replicable plan for mass shootings."  It's something all newsrooms plan for, because we know they will happen again.

This mass shooting — modern history's deadliest mass killing by gun by an American on American soil — has quickly captured our depleting sense of shock. But there will be another one.

There is always another one.

In one of many sobering tweets posted Monday, one by CNBC reporter Carl Quintanilla stuck out. He said that since 9/11 there have been 22 moments of silence at the New York Stock Exchange. Eight have been for shootings, he wrote, and all of them have been in the last six years.

This time, a gunman took aim from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel-casino and fired a hail of bullets onto people enjoying an outdoor country-music festival below. At least 59 people died, and more than 500 were injured.

We still don't know why, and even when some reason is given, it will be of little solace.

It bears noting, especially during National Domestic Violence Month, that most mass shootings in the United States are related to domestic violence, and that before Monday's shooting, the two deadliest shootings this year involved men targeting their wives.

But the reason for this particular massacre is almost beside the point. What really matters is what's at the center of this tragedy, what's always at the center of these horrific tragedies — guns.

As Trump said, this was an act of pure evil. It was also an act of opportunity – another opportunity for an American to attack fellow Americans with a gun.

Read more about the Las Vegas shooting:

America sends its 'warmest condolences' because we refuse to speak the truth on guns | Bunch

A mass shooting that strikes at the heart of American pop culture

Philadelphians caught in terror in Las Vegas