Mass Shootings Should Enrage Us, But Let's Not Lose Sight Of Reason

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In the days following a mass shooting, there is often grief and anger from a country in shock and mourning. Everyone is in agreement that a tragic event as such should never have occurred, but our ideas around prevention tend to differ.

I generally give it some time before engaging in any debates on social media after a shooting occurs. It takes some time for the facts to come out, and these debates at first are based on emotion rather than logic. There’s nothing wrong with being upset. The loss of innocent life should enrage us, however there will be no productive conversation until that phase is over. If you’ve been on social media, you likely know exactly what I’m talking about.

Perhaps you’ve seen people make statements or share statements to the effect of gun owners don’t care if people die so long as they get to keep their guns.

It may be hard not to engage people who make such statements. It’s hard for me too. But don’t. This is not a person that is operating within the realm of reason, and they cannot be reached or reasoned with.

You’ve likely heard people attacking Thoughts and Prayers as a sentiment following a tragedy. They state that thoughts and prayers are not enough, and that they are not preventing tragedies from taking place, as if this is the solution their political counterparts are offering. Supportive sentiments of mourning were never marketed as a preventative measure, and most of us know this. We also know that people are ignoring our actual ideas by pretending thoughts and prayers are what we’ve proposed. Never stop pushing our real ideas. We’ll get into those just a little bit later.

You’ve likely seen supposed pro gun people virtue signal to the gun control crowd. They make statements such as, “I’m pro gun, but I would turn in all of my guns if it meant saving the lives of children.” These are people who should just put their money where their mouth is. It’s not a helpful statement, because the only way you turning in your guns would prevent the deaths of children would be if you were an irresponsible or an owner with malintent to begin with.

It would be akin to a heterosexual person publicly stating that they would be willing to perform sexual favors on a homosexual person to prove they’re not homophobic. Nobody ever asked you for this, and no homosexual person actually expects this. It’s silly, and nobody is comfortable being the subject of your signaling because it’s disingenuous. Gay people have standards too.

So if you’re going to virtue signal with guns, please go ahead and be more like this guy:

People have commented on this post calling him a cuck and a beta, but the gun is his private property and he may do with it as he sees fit. I actually applaud him for doing this, because despite his opening stating he is a highly trained and responsible gun owner, I am doubtful of this. I have good reason for these doubts. I would encourage this person to take the same action with any other firearms they own.

You’ve also likely seen people waging warfare with identity politics. You’ve probably seen memes like this:

You’ve probably seen this countered with memes like this:

However there is one factor both of these memes share that cannot be overlooked. Mass shooting perpetrators are overwhelmingly male. Both of the memes share this in common, and so do violent crime statistics. The commonality is a good place to begin observations. So race aside, what do most of these men have in common?

People tend to look at mental health, and believe keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill is a good place to start. I tend to see this as an approach with good intentions, but destined to backfire. It adds to the stigma of mental health. Nobody wants to be put on a list and will go to lengths within their control to avoid it. This includes not seeking help at all. It disincentives people to seek treatment if they know by doing so they are being put, often erroneously, into a category that deems them as dangerous. This doesn’t mean mentally ill people are lining up to buy guns. It just means they aren’t accepting further stigmatization being imposed on them by a society that doesn’t understand them, and often uses them as a scapegoat.

Mental health concerns exist both with men and women, yet we see a disproportionate amount of violence coming from men. We need to look at social factors. The most glaring one that many who commit acts of mass violence share, is the lack of a father figure.

Nikolas Cruz, the school shooter from Broward County in Florida is the most extreme case of this. Had an intervention occurred preventing the shooting Cruz receiving the help he needed, we’d all be feeling incredibly sorry for him right now. He lost both his biological parents at a very young age, as well as both of his foster parents in his teens. It would be hard not to view this as life’s cruel joke.

People often interpret the problems caused by the absence of a father into an attack on single mothers. This is absolutely not the case. In July of 2017, researchers from Princeton University found that the social stresses from the absence of a father actually cause biological changes in the DNA. The degree of the change varies on the circumstance or permanence of the absence. These degrees include divorce, incarceration, and death of the father.

This is why figures like Jordan Peterson are needed. While some people may dislike him due to his refusal to memorize 72 genders, he is a positive force providing direction for disenfranchised boys. There is a need for Peterson and for more people like him. Nobody is making a case that single mothers are failing or aren’t doing the best job that they possibly can. But boys especially need a good male role model with regular interaction.

Some may try to shame me for empathizing with Cruz’s childhood circumstances. After all, he’s a monster. Not even human. Empathy is certainly not off the table, especially if we’re at all serious about understanding how people go down this rabbit hole. If we want to prevent instances of mass violence, a large part of that is understanding why someone commits themselves to it. Simply writing somebody off as not even human is actually a barrier to this. It’s also not that often that one is captured alive where generally they will commit suicide themselves or by cop.

Let’s also remember that the Florida shooting was also painfully preventable, across multiple occasions. Here is what we know:

In September of 2017 the FBI was warned Nikolas Cruz posted a school shooting threat on a YouTube comment, doing so under his real name. The FBI national office stated they could not locate Cruz and dumped the tip. This is despite the fact Cruz was well known to local police, and the FBI could have deferred this to the locality based on the IP Address of the posted comment.
During the 2017 school year Cruz made death threats against specific students. These students reported it to the head of the school’s security. It is unclear whether the school contacted police or not, but the students who reported this don’t appear to have been interviewed or approached by police.
In September of 2016 The Florida Department of Children and Families was made aware that Cruz had been cutting his arms with a knife, and had stated he was going to buy a gun. The DCF deemed this disturbing behavior acceptable.
In January of 2018 The FBI received a school shooting tip from a student at the school. The FBI again closed this tip without deferring it to the locality, and issued a statement admitting they did not follow protocol.

While Cruz is unequivocally responsible for his actions, this was clearly a situation that could have been prevented across multiple levels, and Cruz could have received much needed help. This would have been the desired outcome, but those who had a duty did absolutely nothing.

There are three areas that need focus:

Mental health treatment should be incentivized rather than disincentivized.
While women should be empowered, the cultural shift that fathers are replaceable or unnecessary should be reversed.
Steps should be taken to deter violence in schools.

This brings us to what solutions are being proposed by gun owners that aren’t simply thoughts and prayers. Representative Thomas Massie has introduced a bill to repeal The Federal Gun-Free Zones School Act. This would allow the brave teachers willing to put their lives on the line for their students to do a little bit more to protect them.

People often scoff, “Teachers are paying for their own school supplies and now you expect them to pay for their own guns and training?” This particular question supposes that out of of the 42 percent of the 126.22 million households in America that own guns, not a single teacher could possibly reside at any of them. It also supposes that if they did, that an educator of all people could not possibly be educated about them.

In fact, one of my favorite shooting partners happens to be a public high school teacher. The fact that he’s a teacher doesn’t suddenly make him uneducated or unsafe during range time. The opposite is true. Statistics would have it that there are likely several teachers in every public school who are just like him. The simple act of allowing a teacher to be armed would serve as a deterrent, and if it did not, could minimize the cost of life.

The other option would be armed security in every school. Some people say this would be too expensive. I contend that life is more valuable than the cost. However if we’re going to crunch numbers, it could be easily paid for by slashing The Pentagon’s budget by the amount of money it loses and can’t account for. Some people also contend that armed security would give members of security power over students (they’re talking about rape) yet this doesn’t appear to be the case when parents drop off their school age girls at Justin Timberlake concerts.

I will continue to offer thoughts and prayers until you are ready to protect kids the same way we protect money, social security documents, lawyers, judges, politicians and celebrities.