“So here is what the Democrats should do. Tomorrow morning Chuck Schumer should put on the floor of the Senate a law mandating strict background checks for all gun purchases. Perhaps tie it to a reinstitution of the 1994 assault weapons ban that Republicans allowed to expire in 2004. Give it a name like the ‘Anti Political and School Violence Act’. Make Republicans shoot it down. Make them say, as Trump himself did after a school shooting massacre in Iowa this year, that we ‘have to get over it, we have to move forward.’ It’s not just an outrage when your right-wing authoritarian hero gets his ear nicked by an assassin’s bullet. It’s an outrage when anyone is shot by a nut with a gun.”
Pause and reflect on the last mindless phrase in an otherwise thoughtful paragraph. . . “a nut with a gun”. Consider an alternative description. A desperate, socially isolated person with nothing to hope for in the future, and therefore, nothing to lose.
An experienced former FBI investigator speculated on the shooter’s motives in ways that made imminent sense and will likely prove correct. The gunman was bullied in school, eccentric, and most importantly, socially awkward and isolated. The investigator called him “The Invisible Man” and compared him to Hinckley who wasn’t political at all. Hinckley shot Reagan to get the attention of an actress.
The Invisible Man can only take so much invisibility and commits a horrific act of violence to be seen. By any means necessary. Now, everyone knows his name and he will be remembered. Extremely negatively of course, but remembered nonetheless.
Ever notice the similarities among mass shooters? White, male, working class, bullied in school, socially isolated, parent(s) with guns.
The descriptor “nuts” suggests a randomness that defies reality. Reality is not every white, male, working class, bullied in school, socially isolated young adult with access to guns decides there’s nothing to lose. But what if 1 or 2 percent do?
That’s the country we’re living in.
Pressing Pause 