The fact that people leave wiggle room for armchair lawyers to nitpick does not mean that we do not know what those people mean, and in this case, what Islamic Society of Central Florida’s Senior Imam suggested while speaking at the Orlando press conference about the mass shooting last night was perfectly clear.

We hope this would be the last of the mass shootings that our country has been going through. Um, I think as a nation we need to look at this issue of mass shootings because we just had one too many today, and I think we should do something about it to stop the mass shootings that are happening all the time.

Besides the fact that this is practically directly out of gun control group literature, it is a blatant attempt to classify this as part of a pattern of shootings that liberals blame on gun control. As opposed to a pattern of murder inspired by Islamic jihad. So much for “don’t jump to conclusions” and “don’t rush to judgment,” right? He’s already decided it’s part of a trend. A specifically American trend. A gun trend.

Look, he is saying, this isn’t about Islam, it’s about Americans. That’s what he is suggesting. And in keeping with liberal talking points, or using them as cover, what he is tying it to is the current, ongoing, Obama- and Hillary-led assault on gun rights.

The FBI, it should be noted, did not come out with a statement this morning linking the shooter to a pattern of gun control issues. What they did do was directly bring up his ties to radical Islam. At least the investigators aren’t being fooled.

We hope.

*Note: This story has been edited to remove the name of the Imam as there seems to be some dispute about it.