US President Barrack Obama is winding down his term, and his latest question to the United States is: “Is this the country we want to be?”

He was, of course, referring to the latest mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, where a gunman burst into a gay club and killed 50 people and injured more than 50 others. By all accounts, it was a bloodbath.

The text that people were sending were heart rending, one man even telling his mother that he loved her. He was among those killed. The United States has long been grappling with the issues it has with people having the right to bear arms.

But perhaps, the reality of the situation is that all it takes is one lone wolf, or a small cell of people, to wreak havoc on a community. Islamic State has not claimed responsibility for the attack, but it quickly jumped on the bandwagon and praised the man for killing westerners and then losing his own life in the process. It is understood that in the run up to the massacre, he called the US emergency number 911 and pledged his allegiance to IS.

The investigation is far from complete, but it seems that the son of Afghani immigrants was mentally unstable, with former colleagues and his ex-wife telling the media that they remember him – Omar Mateen, 29 – as being an unhinged and violent person.

Many have told investigators that the man, who actually once wanted to become a police officer, was filled with hate, rage, homophobia and misogyny. It truly is a sad, sad case. Innocent people have died once again – just like they did in Paris, just like they did in Brussels and just as they have done in other European and US cities.

But where does that leave the world? Many are calling for more security checks. The truth is that nowadays, one does not need a gun licence to obtain a weapon. It is becoming abundantly clear that weapons can be bought off the black market aplenty and anyone with internet access can find all they want to know about making home explosives.

Each and every country thinks that it is immune to such attacks. But all it takes is one madman with a gun to instantly wipe out lives. People have lost their sons, brothers, daughters, mothers and fathers as a result of mass terror.

London did not expect to have its transport system bombed, but it was. Spain did not expect an attack, but it did suffer one. More recently, France and Belgium have suffered multiple terror attacks. The government of Malta has repeatedly said that while it remains vigilant, there is no specific threat of attack against this country. That may be so. But what if a person decides that they want to go on a killing spree? Are we prepared for it? No. Just as all the other countries mentioned earlier were not prepared for it.

The world truly has changed as a place. Of course, as people, we simply cannot give in to terror. But what is the flipside? Are we going to face a situation where police officers do spot checks at any given corner? Perhaps the best place to start off is to seriously clamp down on the illegal trafficking of arms and ammunition. It is sad to say that once again, a madman has taken the lives of innocent people. People who did not deserve to die.