What lone gunman? Let's also indict his gang of collaborators.
News reports of the latest mass shooting continue to label the perpetrator as a "lone gunman." I find that description tragically inaccurate.
By singling him out from his collaborators, we're forced to envision a young white man who has lost his way. He's sick, deranged, spurred on my video games, and violent movies. Meanwhile, the rest of his gang has jammed into the getaway car and sped away to avoid any taint from the poor sap holding the bag.
Let's halt the speeding car and identify the fleeing felons: the NRA, Republicans who support gun rights, members of the Supreme Court who believe Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, and the crowd of hunters who claim pride in gunning for innocent animals.
Lock them all up!
It matters not to me that that galling gang were not in the vicinity of Highland Park, Uvalde, Buffalo, San Jose, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Dayton, El Paso, Virginia Beach, Ascension and Livingston Parish, Thousand Oaks, Pittsburg, Scottsdale, Santa Fe, Sutherland, Las Vegas, Orlando, San Bernadine, Newtown, Aurora, Binghamton, Red Lake. (This is not a complete list. Halfway through 2022, 302 mass shootings have been reported. And it is missing several school shootings.)
Along with the description of the psychotic gunman, we've learned that the majority of these attacks were planned violence. To me that doesn't suggest a frenzied murderer, rather a criminal who had multiple sources of encouragement to back up his rationale to own and use a high-powered rifle.
After all, his (note, always a "he") state legislator surely put his sweaty arm around the gunman's shoulder, pulled him close, and whispered in his ear, "I've got your back."
Lock him up, too.
What about the NRA's five million or so members? They may have been at home, in their dens decorated with heads of animals slaughted and mounted. But our gunman surely heard their cheers coming from wood paneled man caves as he placed the sight to his eye.
Perhaps the "lone gunman: felt as untouchable and beloved as a former president? He could envision himself on a podium receiving their annual Gun Owner of the Year award. Lone? Those five million are waiting for him to exit the stage so they can clap him on his boney back.
Along with being labeled deranged, the latest gunman, like others in his fraternity, are young, 18 - 29. "Teen and young adult males have long stood out from other subgroups for their impulsive behavior. They are far more reckless and prone to violence than their counterparts in other age groups, according to *Vanderbilt University psychiatrist Jonathan Metzl.
“There’s a lot of research about how their brains are not fully developed in terms of regulation,” he said. "Perhaps most significantly, studies show, the prefrontal cortex, which is critical to understanding the consequences of one’s actions and controlling impulses, does not fully develop until about age 25."
What's the excuse for this reckless behavior by our lone gunman's crew? They are all -- NRA, Republicans who support gun rights, members of the Supreme Court -- grownups. What can we pin their irresponsible behavior on?
I'm not relieving the most recent mass shooter of his crime. He's already been charged with seven murders. But I refuse to accept the depiction that he acted alone. He never felt alone.
In my opinion, he has been emboldened and accompanied by his own sad, ragtag army of adults who should know better. Some have been misidentified as "Supreme." Others have swapped Legislator for Henchmen. And the largest groups, lolling in their Lazy Boys, with dismembered prey pasted to their walls, are accessories.
Lock them all up!
*The Washington Post, June 3, 2022)
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