A Blaze of Glory

 

Shooters should wallow in a sea of anonymity

According to a 2021 study of mass shooters compiled by the Violence Project, the majority of perpetrators failed to complete high school, had mental health issues with almost half suffering from anger issues, used assault-type weapons in 24% of the acts, in over 80% of school shootings weapons used were stolen from family members and almost half communicated their desire to commit the crime prior to the assault. Mainstream and digital media continue to emphasize their reporting on the criminal and his actions, motives, their family, neighbors and friends while devoting little coverage to the victims. While fame seeking was identified in only 11% of the incidents, almost half of the perpetrators died during the attack, either by suicide, police gunfire or citizen intervention. Unless the perpetrator posted on social media or communicated to friends or family, the true number of those seeking attention for their actions is unknown. The Arlington Park, Illinois shooter told a friend, “You’ll know who I am. You’ll know what I did. You’ll remember my name,”

The phenomena of fans rushing onto the field during sporting events basically came to an end when the television networks decided to ignore the interlopers and refused to broadcast their interruption of the event. No fame, no glory, fewer disruptions. Without publicity, it’s just not worth it! Always looking for internet notoriety with as many “likes” and clicks one can engender. All of us love the camera. Consider those attending sporting events and how they act when their likeness appears on the big screen. It is simply human nature to call attention to oneself. Perhaps, if we concentrated on the victims and their families, ignoring the shooter, but for a description of an evil, disturbed, sick individual, future potential shooters may just decide that it is no longer worth the effort if they are not only left fameless, but reviled anonymously.

Those of you that blame the weapon and not the shooter must come to realize that law-abiding citizens do not commit criminal acts with their guns. Criminals and mentally deranged individuals commit crimes with guns. Taking the guns away from those who obey the law, while criminals remain armed is ludicrous on its’ face. Unless you can get all of the “genies” back in the bottle, criminals will always find a way to obtain the weapons of their choice. Unfortunately, that type of “logic” actually puts law abiding citizens at more risk to be victimized. Red Flag laws may have some merit, but also have the potential to trample on the Constitutional rights of those targeted, so we need to tread lightly here. Afterall, simply removing guns from the possession of those who are potential threats, does nothing to address the individual, nor the mental illness or hypothetical criminality of that individual.

Also lost in the noise are the clues left by the shooter, particularly on social media posts. If vaccine or election misinformation can be tracked and censored, why can’t algorithms identify potentially threatening posts? Why can’t these individuals be reported to police? It would be appropriate for police to make a house call to these types of individuals. Social media posts threatening violence should be properly investigated and are not a violation of the 1^st Amendment rights of those individuals. It should be the responsibility of social media companies to monitor and report any potential threatening posts. As a retired police officer, I always encouraged citizens to contact police about any suspicious behavior they may observe. That type of information may be critical in preventing criminal acts.

“But we need to do something!” This type of haphazard thinking and action leads one to think with their heart and not with their brain. We need to understand the root cause of these random acts of violence and take the necessary action to address those causes and develop real solutions, rather than heartfelt slogans that do nothing to solve the underlying problem. We need to address untreated mental illness. We need to bring engaged fathers back into the family unit. Parents need to be involved in their child’s life, school and social media. We need to understand the dangers in inflating self-esteem and self-worth. God needs to come back to His rightful place in the family to cultivate and instill a solid moral compass in our children. These are all good starting points in an effort to address these and society’s ills.