Stop shooting blanks in mass shooting debate
On a recent visit to Newtown, Conn. – site of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting where 26 people died – I went to Ground Zero (the school was demolished after the tragedy), said a prayer, and wondered if we’ll ever have the courage to tackle the real causes for these mass killings.
Sadly, the answer is no. And the reason is simple: You can’t solve a problem until you know what the problem is. Both sides refuse to look at the truth of why these shootings are happening now – when they never did before – so the reality is that we’re not close to a solution. After two more mass shootings, debate is raging. Unfortunately, damn near everyone is arguing the wrong things. Time to set the record straight:
1) We will never, repeat never, stop these shootings until we figure out why they are occurring, and address those causes with real-world approaches. The indisputable fact is that these mass shootings, especially in schools, were virtually nonexistent until Columbine in 1999 – and, for the record, that massacre occurred while an assault weapons ban was in place. That fact needs to be reread by the “banning-assaultrifles-is-a-panacea” crowd, because they are wholly incapable of acknowledging such a fundamental truth.
So what’s changed? This author already covered that in a three-part series, a factual, onpoint analysis of why our culture has shifted so radically, so quickly.
Those links can be found at this column’s conclusion.
2) The Sandy Hook and Orlando nightclub massacres, along with many other mass shootings, occurred under President Obama’s watch. Yet virtually no one blamed him – nor should they have – even though Democrats controlled Congress and the White House between 2008 and 2010. They could have passed restrictive gun control measures, but didn’t. The point is that it’s patently ridiculous to politicize mass shootings and blame one party or the other for a shooting. We can argue all day about what politicians should have done differently, but they aren’t the killers, and they aren’t responsible for mass shootings.
Similarly, gun manufacturers should never be held liable, even though preposterous lawsuits against them remain in the courts. Under that rationale, Chevy should be responsible when a Corvette driver kills due to excessive speed, and beer companies sued when someone dies due to drunk driving. The sheer irrationality is mind boggling.
But above all, it is unforgivable that individuals, especially politicians, have directly blamed President Trump for the recent shootings. Their “justification” is that Mr. Trump is racist, and his “hatred” made the shooters do it. That’s downright despicable.
Has the president said dumb things? Of course. Has he made statements that some construe as racist? Yep. But so what? Doing so is irrelevant to the topic at hand. Mr. Trump’s words are, at times, outlandish and unpresidential, and they don’t always foster unity. But that’s called freedom of speech, and it’s a right that doesn’t end upon becoming president.
But the president’s words in no way make him responsible for the murderers’ actions, nor do they amount to “pulling the trigger,” as many have stated on social media.
Those making such arguments are either living on another planet, or running for president – such as Texas’ Beto O’Rourke, Ohio’s Tim Ryan, and Jersey’s Cory Booker (“Donald Trump is responsible for this”) – who think that politicizing shootings will lift their dismal poll numbers.
Ironically, the very act of blaming anyone other than the shooters themselves – whose names this column will never mention, since recognition is what they crave most – has, in part, led to the rise of mass murderers. Our failure to hold people accountable – from sports to school, and work to home – is partially responsible for these unspeakable events.
The instant anyone other than the perpetrator is blamed is the instant he gets a free pass, because we are, in fact, stating that a criminal is not solely responsible for his actions. America’s most basic principle is selfaccountability, but the intolerant left is whittling that away each day.
Put another way, if a Los Angeles Rams player eviscerated Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady and stated that Brady’s “cheating” was the reason the Rams lost the Super Bowl, would we hold that player responsible if a fan attacked Brady? Of course not. The only person responsible would be the criminal himself – no matter how much he was inspired by the Ram’s fiery rhetoric.
If you wish to dislike the president, oppose his policies, and vote against him – fine. But have the decency and class not to blame him for a criminal’s heinous action. The victims, and their families, deserve no less.
3) Let’s stop the latest attack-du-jour that the president is a “white nationalist.” And because of that, white nationalists are killing because of their allegiance to him.
In addition to the points on accountability, such arguments are absurd because they simply aren’t true.
The El Paso shooter stated numerous reasons for his atrocity. And he admitted that his illwill toward immigrants was rooted long before Mr. Trump became president.
The Dayton shooter killed his own (white) sister, so that defeats promoting white nationalism.
More to the point, what about the Virginia Beach massacre – the second-deadliest of 2019? That wasn’t a white nationalist, since the killer was black. And the garlic festival shooter in California? He was of partial Iranian descent. And how to explain the rash of other shootings before Mr. Trump was even on the radar? None of the shooters in the Orlando, San Bernardino, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood (and many other) massacres was white, and all occurred before Mr. Trump’s presidency. Go figure.
Any media entity reporting mass shootings as “white terrorism” should be shamed, for two reasons: 1) they don’t do likewise when it is a black shooter, which feeds into our toxic double-standard culture, and 2) domestic terrorism is domestic terrorism. Period. It shouldn’t be defined by skin color. Law enforcement should investigate every terrorist and criminal act with equal gusto, ditto for prosecutors. To single out one group over another to fulfil a warped, race-driven political agenda is nefarious, and callously prioritizes partisan politics over victims’ lives.
Speakingofhypocrisy,where was the outcry of “black nationalism” after a black shooter targeted and killed five Dallas police officers because of his perception that white cops were racist? Nonexistent. And a pass was given to Kayln Chapman James, the first black Miss Alabama (crowned in 1993), who was quoted in USA Today as saying that the Dallas shooter was a “martyr,” and “I don’t feel sorry for the (murdered) officers who lost their lives.”
Had a person of a different race said the same thing, the backlash would have been unimaginable. But we live in a country of increasing double standards, where absolutely everything is politicized – even mass murder.
4) Not surprisingly, no one is talking about the other mass shooting that occurred: 55 shot in Chicago over the weekend – so many that a hospital closed its ER due to volume. These mass shootings occur every week in America, and while not singular events, the carnage is staggeringly high. Cities are already the most restrictive gun zones in the country, so anyone thinking that more gun bans would stem those shootings is in fantasyland.
5) Fox commentator Sean Hannity has again demonstrated that he may not be America’s dumbest person, but he’s in the Top Ten.
His “solution:” armed guards on every floor of every school, mall and public facility, as well as stationed around the perimeters of those buildings.
Really? Making America into a bigger police state is his solution? Not only doesn’t it address why these shootings are occurring, but it won’t deter anyone seeking a “romanticized” suicide-by-cop grand exit. How Hannity is still on TV remains a mystery, but at least he has a career in comedy after his Fox gig ends.
Part Two will look at how many proposed “solutions,” while well-intentioned, amount to empty, feel-good rhetoric.
You can find the three-part series from 2018 here:
Part 1: https://www.delcotimes.com/opinion/chrisfreind-we-re-becoming-usedto-these-mass-shootings/
article_cb6d98ae-b471-5c08bb1b-74f85942d48e.html Part 2: https://www. delcotimes.com/opinion/ chris-freind-it-s-our-faultwhy-mass-shootings-are/
article_192ad53e-a40c-5590bbcd-70a6cf278f75.html Part 3: https://www.delcotimes.com/opinion/chrisfreind-mass-shooting-carnagewill-continue-until-we-answer/
article_07d5c19d-959d-55d5bc0b-4b9eb0a9a961.html