Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
Nut with a gun shoots crowd at parade in affluent Chicago suburb. Once again, every Liberal gun-control nostrum failed:
AR-15 style rifles have been banned in Highland Park for a decade (buyer purchased in a different city). Gun ban didn’t work.
The rifle was factory-made, not a ‘ghost gun’ built in the garage. Ghost gun ban didn’t work.
The buyer needed a reference to obtain his Permit to Purchase (his father lol signed). Requiring references didn’t work.
The buyer was over 18 at time of purchase. Raising the minimum age didn’t work.
The buyer passed the background check. Background checks didn’t work.
The buyer planned farther in advance than any ‘cooling off’ period. Waiting period didn’t work.
The buyer threatened to kill his family but his family refused to press charges or commit him to a mental institution (it was handled by a mental health worker). Outpatient mental health treatment didn’t work.
Firearms ownership is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution, but not everyone is entitled to enjoy that right. Historically, criminals, children, and the insane were prohibited. This guy falls into the third category but Liberals have so badly messed up civil commitment law that we can’t stop crazies from buying guns.
We don’t need to take the rifles off the streets, we need to take the crazies off the streets. Time for another look at how mental health treatment is failing in America.
Joe Doakes
There are two different supplies of shooters in this country; crazies, and habitual criminals.
The solution for one has nothing to do with dealing with the other.
And none of them will be solved by disarming the law abiding citizen.
That’s a very nice listing of the failures of Liberal gun-control nostrums, JD. Thanks.
I’ll add that I don’t think there is any plan nor even an intention to get the crazies [or criminals] off the streets. As Bill Glahn so astutely put it, They’ve tried nothing and are all out of ideas.
America is a hyper-violent society, compared to other developed countries. This is a fact that both the left and the right agree upon.
The left blames the guns and the right blames culture/demographics. In all honesty, it is both.
When it comes to mass shootings one has to engage in a bit of pattern recognition. The perpetrator is often a loner, a pariah, and a victim of bullying and abuse. He is often starved for friendship and connection. He has a troubling online presence, often engaging with other like-minded social outcasts. He is usually in his late teens to early 20s. He probably lives in the suburbs.
America makes it hard for people like this to live a meaningful life. America in many parts can feel like a cultural desert, with nothing but suburban sprawl of cheaply built homes, strip malls, and fast food.
Compare this to Western Europe where many small towns have a bit of culture, cuisine, architecture, and history to keep one fulfilled. These are all things that humans require for robust mental health I believe.
Let’s not confuse what causes the rare event of a shooter killing people he does not know with what causes the gang violence that makes up the mass of murders in the US.
The former is a mental health issue. The latter is a criminal matter.
^ yes, but the common element is guns. Get rid of the guns, get rid of mass shootings and gang crimes. Simple.
There you go, E, saved you the trouble.
America makes it hard for people like this to live a meaningful life. America in many parts can feel like a cultural desert, with nothing but suburban sprawl of cheaply built homes, strip malls, and fast food.
This happened in Highland Park, not Villa Park.
JD, you forgot two:
the perp was known to police, made multiple threats, and even had knives confiscated. Red flag laws failed.
Police knew about this menace and did nothing because as the law says, they are not required to protect you. Pigs (not all cops are pigs but the ones who let this perp walk in the daylight, are) failed.
Regarding the notion that America is a hyper violent society, not really true. It is violent in the inner cities where we’ve paid generations of young women to have their babies out of wedlock. Otherwise, our country would fit in well in western Europe.
I think there’s a simple, if politically troublesome, solution to this, don’t you think? Yes, it’s hard to take away that government cheese when it’s been offered for half a century or more.
Regarding the atrocity here, what strikes me is that worldwide, including in Western Europe (Charlie Hebdo, Oslo shooting June 25, etc..), terrorism seems to be becoming more acceptable, and mass gatherings seem to be popular targets. Hence we might ask ourselves whether, for a town parade, we need watchers on some of the rooftops (perhaps armed) to reduce the odds of a repeated event.
silly bubba! the solution is to cancel all public gatherings, of course! oh, and take away guns from law-abiding citizens.
Mr D wrote: “This happened in Highland Park, not Villa Park.”
Yes well I believe the shooter was residing in a small apartment in Highwood at the time, which is slightly less nice of an existence. The nice towns do not compensate for poverty of spirit, of the soul.
Don’t get me wrong — I considered myself fantastically lucky. First lived on the NW side of Chicago, then Park Ridge. The schools were great — yes — and the environment was idyllic. Cycling over to Gillson Beach, sometimes riding up Sheridan Road, were highlights.
My point is all of that won’t make up for those who for whatever reason are drawn in to other, darker directions, and I think there is more of that since we were young — even in the nicest places to grow up.
The nice towns do not compensate for poverty of spirit, of the soul.
Then why cite it as a factor? This guy has a lot of issues, but strip malls and aesthetics are way down the list. To be fair, your second comment is closer to the mark. And for the record I lived in Oak Park for five years.
^ I would add — in Europe it’s practically impossible for a disturbed loner to buy an AR-15 assault rifle..
It would be here, too, if Liberals hadn’t convinced the courts that disturbed loners have a 14th Amendment Liberty interest in being allowed to roam free without compulsory medication to treat their mental illness.
This is not a gun problem. This is a crazy problem. And Liberals created it by changing the laws which historically had kept dangerous people out of society.
JD, not only that, but they are bend on creating MORE of the crazies. What can go wrong?
Gun control in America reminds me of a classic Simpsons quote: “We’ve tried nothing, and we’re all out of ideas”.
Thomas Sowell’s rejoinder: Liberals have given up on What Works in favor of What Sounds Good. Letting crazies roam free; defunding the police; emptying the jails; pandering to low-IQ mobs; and complaining that America today isn’t as safe and clean as America of 60 years ago.
https://rightwingnews.com/column-2/the-real-problem-with-liberals-is-theyve-given-up-on-what-works-for-what-sounds-good/
Pigs, did I mention PIGS? FUCK YEA!
A Uvalde PD officer reported that he was at the crash site and observed the suspect carrying a rifle prior to the suspect entering the west hall exterior door. The UPD officer was armed with a rifle and sighted in to shoot the attacker; however, he asked his supervisor for permission to shoot. The UPD officer did not hear a response and turned to get confirmation from his supervisor. When he turned back to address the suspect, the suspect had already entered the west hall exterior door at 11:33:00.
Joe Doake’s post is litany of all the things that were tried to stop gun crimes and failed to stop the Highland Park shooter.
Let me list them for the troll:
-Assault rifle ban in Highland Park.
-A “ghost gun” was not used.
-Requiring a reference didn’t work.
-Shooter was 22, no age requirement stopped him from buying his weapons.
-Background check didn’t stop the shooter.
-Mental health check didn’t work.
-Waiting period didn’t stop the shooter.
None of the panic driven changes in gun control passed after Uvalde would have stopped this guy. This is a failure of gun control.
This is why pro gun control people should not be taken seriously. They pass laws that make it harder for law abiding people to buy weapons and they cannot be said to have prevented a single mass shooting.
And they don’t want to talk about the people actually committing the most gun crimes.
Urban poverty and income and wealth inequality are not unique to American society. They exist in many western nations and inequality is much worse in China, India, Russia. When I’m down to using India Russia and China as comparisons you know the situation is pretty dire.
The indiscriminate slaughter of each other is unfortunately a very unique American situation. Nearly half the guns in the world are in the US. It is so easy to purchase semiautomatic weapons and there are enough mentally disturbed people to do the rest….
No mass shooting was caused by poverty or wealth inequality. That whole paragraph is irrelevent nonsense.
Indiscriminate slaughter is an American myth. Most American shootings are not indiscriminate, they’re specifically targeted at self (suicide) or members of other gangs (crime).
If all the guns in the world were in the US, but the crazies and criminals couldn’t obtain them, the US would be safe as houses. The problem is the crazies and the criminals, not the tools they use.
And we already covered how Liberals created every one of the problems they now bemoan, by reversing the historical procedures that prevented them.
Emery’s 12:52 is a good example of why pro gun control people should not be taken seriously.
He begins by talking about gun violence as a result of poverty and wealth inequality. He then switches to talking about mentally disturbed people.
You want to reduce gun crime? Throw people who commit crimes with guns into jail for a long, long time. In Illinois over 40% of murders are committed by convicted felons who are forbidden to possess a firearm.
We know that putting gun criminals behind bars works to reduce gun violence. Tough on gun crime laws enjoy wide public support, even the NRA supports these laws.
But you know who does not support sending more gun criminals to jail?
Democrat politicians and DA’s.
Enforce current laws? Last time I checked, the US had one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. We’re very good at creating laws, instituting harsh penalties, and locking people up…where they learn to be better criminals.
Last time I checked, the US had one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. We’re very good at creating laws, instituting harsh penalties, and locking people up…where they learn to be better criminals.
So you want more laws but simultaneously want to ease enforcement of the laws? Or do you want to just start confiscating guns, even though it would be impossible to do, given the sheer number of weapons currently in circulation? Or do you want to do something about mental illness, but without actually doing anything to solve the issue? Or do you just want to snark?
That’s only a problem if you let them out after they’ve learned to be better criminals.
Seriously, listen to yourself, E. America locked up criminals and was safe. But that meant locking up a lot of people so we stopped doing it. Now, America isn’t safe anymore. Hmmm. Seems like there ought to be an easy tried-and-true solution to the problem of too many criminals roaming the streets. What could it be?
If locking up criminals is a bridge too far for modern Liberals, I’m willing to consider other tried-and-true solutions for which there is historical precedent.
Local governments offered bounties to people who killed crows, gophers and other vermin. I think you were supposed to bring in the crows feet as proof. Might be messy for larger, more persistent vermin in say, Minneapolis. Noses?
National governments offered letters of marque and reprisal to privateers, giving permission to attack enemies and seize their assets. Maybe we could designate Ham Crazy Boyz as enemies and issue letters to local citizens to kill gang members to keep their guns, money and tricket-out Tahoes?
Law enforcement in the Old West often found itself understaffed, particularly when confroned by rovings of bank robbers. The solution was to deputize ordinary citizens, permit them to carry weapons, and authorize deadly force in the apprehension of suspects. Minneapolis could solve its police shortage and fireworks hooliganism overnight, without paying an extra penny of salary. Hell of a mortuary bill, I suppose, but only for the first week or so after which things would quiet down through attrition.
Any of these appeal to you, E?
Yes, Emery, in Europe, it’s super difficult for a disturbed loner to get an assault rifle….like the Ruger Mini-14 Anders Breivik got because he had a valid hunting license, or the Zastava AK platform rifles used in the Charlie Hebdo killings and Bataclan.
You know what all these historical solutions to crime had in common? Society recognized that criminals were ruining things for everybody else and they were punished for their actions, justified by twin theories of deterrence and reducing recidivism.
Nowadays, modern Liberals blame everybody else for the acts of criminals and punish us, which does nothing to deter criminals or stop them from committing more crimes in the future.
Fewer criminals roaming the streets = safer streets. Wow, it’s like math or SCIENCE or something. We should try it.
A number of years ago a couple took their nine year old daughter to a gun range to fire an AK 47 as a present for her birthday. She lost control of the weapon and shot the instructor who was married with four young children. The man’s wife said; “It’s the price we pay for freedom”.
It’s only when you understand the insane logic of that comment it becomes very clear that mass shootings will never end in America. Too many guns, too many crazies and America’s unending horizon of mass shootings.
Nothing makes leftist trash happier than a shooting by a White man, except a school shooting.
They squeeze the last drop of crocodile tears out of them.
I call bullshit.
Details, or it never happened.
^ Does Google not operate properly on your device? Nevertheless—I’ll bite
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/us/arizona-firing-range-instructor-killed-by-girl-9-in-accident.html
I would think that a nine year girl shooting someone to death with an AK-47 would’ve been all over the news. Should be easy to find a link.
Besides, I can’t say I disagree with the wife.
Paywall. Wikipedia has it too. Look for “Shooting of Charles Vacca”. I don’t find the story convincing or opinion changing in any way. Accidents happen.
It works just fine. I simply wanted to make sure you were talking about the incident I remembered. I needed to confirm you really intended your analysis to be as asinine as it sounded, to wit: there was an accident at a shooting range; therefore, guns should be banned to prevent mass shootings but won’t be because Americans are insane.
Aside from the utter stupidity of claiming an accident at a shooting range causes mass murder, let’s just extend your rationale to other activities:
A guy died when he fell out of a fishing boat and drowned. Ban fishing.
A guy died when he crashed at Indy. Ban racing.
A guy died when his chute didn’t open. Ban skydiving.
A guy died when struck in the head by a wild throw to first. Ban baseball.
A guy died of heart attack while playing professional soccer. Ban soccer.
A guy died when the bull gored him. Ban bullfighting.
Yep, every bit as dumb as I suspected. Thanks for the confirmation.
Here’s ABC: https://abcnews.go.com/US/girl-accidentally-kills-instructor-firing-uzi/story?id=25139216#:~:text=–%20A%209-year-old%20girl%20being%20taught%20how%20to,Stop%20tourist%20recreational%20complex%20southeast%20of%20Las%20Vegas.
Some key points here are that the girl was nine, which is an age where I’d be willing to teach them how to handle a .22 rifle, but really nothing bigger. Kids are flaky, and you want to be able to grab the barrel to prevent disaster.
The instructor (?) handed her a 9mm Uzi machine pistol, had her squeeze off one shot, and then had her put it on full auto. The shoulder rest was not engaged, and hence the torque of the gun (the hand is wrapped around the magazine in a bullpup configuration) caused the gun to kick upwards and lodge bullets in the head of the instructor.
In other words, idiocy akin to handing your teenage son the car keys and a bottle of Jack. But what, precisely, does a “s*** for brains” move on the part of a now deceased range worker with a 9 year old involving a fully automatic machine pistol have to do with whether responsible adults can own a semi-automatic rifle? Because some people are idiots, the rest of us need to pay with our freedoms? Seriously?
BTW, the range does not allow anyone under 12 now. They didn’t get sued into oblivion, but it does appear that their lawyers sponsored a “come to Jesus moment” with the proprietors and staff.
More evidence that the people in favor of more gun control are not to be taken seriously.
NEW YORK – Charges against rapper 16-year-old Camrin Williams, also known as C-Blu, have been dropped after he allegedly shot an NYPD officer. The dropped charges drew outrage from multiple groups.
Police say that in January, Williams allegedly shot an officer in the leg when the two struggled after he refused police orders.
Williams was already on probation for a prior gun case.
16 year old on probation for gun crime uses an illegally possessed gun to shoot a cop. Pro gun control DA drops charges.
I suspect young men have experienced loneliness and isolation throughout history. The number of female mass shooters in recent history is pretty close to zero.
Clearly the gun industry promotes their products to young men. And acquiring a semiautomatic assault rifle is easier for an isolated potential mass shooter than buying a six pack.
If we were true to the words and spirit of the 2nd Amendment, an AR-15 would never leave the confines of a National Guard armory.
The Highland Park two year old is Aiden McCarthy.
Having bought both guns and six-packs of beer, I can state emphatically that it’s much, much easier to buy beer. Show your drivers license, the clerk does a perfunctory look at you to make sure you sort of look like the guy in the picture, take your ten bucks, and you’re good. Nothing like going through a Brady check at all.
Regarding the notion that a less effective version of an M-16 ought to be banned by the 2nd Amendment, it’s worth noting that it was both legal and common for private citizens to own cannon at the time. Ships generally carried a few to deal with pirates, and the Mormons had a few with them when they went from Nauvoo IL to Utah in the mid-1800s. If you think an AR-15 is deadly, consider the possibility of cannon loaded with grapeshot fired into a crowd before modern surgery, antibiotics, and the like.
Really, Emery, you ought to consider educating yourself on this subject before commenting on it.
Weapons bans work. Just look at Japan.
Racially homogeous, culture of obedience to authority, private ownership of rifles, pistols and swords banned since 1958, shotgun ownership strictly regulated including mental health check and periodic home inspections – all the Liberal ideas are in full play. Only 10 people per year killed by guns.
Well, and the former Prime Minister, shot in the back with a home-made double-barrel shotgun firing home-made propellant. But other than him and the several dozen people stabbed to death each year, weapons bans totally work.
Now, oddly, they now have a crossbow problem. Had to ban crossbows this past March. It’s almost as if weapons control laws didn’t deter criminals willing to substitute a different weapon in order to do their killing. Weird.
I’m sure they’ll work here, though.
“I suspect young men have experienced loneliness and isolation throughout history.”
I agree. So why didn’t they become killers? What changed about American society? Find that and you find the cause. Find the cause and you can cure it.
If, in the past, lonely and isolated men were still able to find mates to stabilize them because women were willing to/forced by society to marry them, then a culture of sex outside marriage/welfare/feminism is to blame (not saying it is, posing the hypothetical of an IF-THEN relationship). If that were true, what would society be willing to do, to reverse the cause of mass shootings?
Even if we knew the cause, do we have the courage to act on our findings?