Texas Mass Murder

By Michael The Libertarian

A group of people, who were bothering absolutely no one were sitting in a church in Texas. In walks a man who, according to all reports was dressed in “full combat gear”, and starts shooting, apparently randomly.

One witness claims he saw at least three empty 30-round magazines. Assuming no misfires, that's ninety rounds fired at innocent Christians.

Obviously, it's early on. Not much is known for certain. There are a few things, though. A few of the things that are known will help to nullify one of the typical arguments that are soon to follow an incident like this.

This idiot shooter was dishonorably discharged from the United States Air Force. He was found guilty by a court martial for beating his wife and child. So, this guy had some issues. I would make the argument he had mental illness issues for one reason:

I was married to a woman that constantly tried to incite me to violence. In fact, she did it once with law enforcement standing in our apartment and the officers threatened to take her to jail (of course, they didn't because she had the right plumbing for political correctness). That said, I can understand the desire to punch a person who needs it and is asking for it. I am not saying that this guy's wife was. I'm saying it's a possibility so, I am willing to put that to the side for now.

He abused his own son, a five-year-old and that was part of his court martial.

So, we've got a person with emotional issues, at the very least. Add to that, a person who was dishonorably discharged.

At least one of those things mean that any weapon this idiot had was obtained illegally. More so the one than the other. A dishonorable discharge automatically precludes a person from owning a firearm. So, before all the “gundiots” start calling for more gun laws, any weapon found in possession of this idiot was an illegal weapon. Case closed.

What needs to be at the fore of the discussion is the why. Why do people think it's okay to just go on shooting sprees.

First things first: we hear more about these kinds of incidents (to a degree) because of the twenty-four hour news cycle and a populace armed with cell-phones that can double as news cameras. I have lived in enough “small towns”, now to know that most have some ancient, little talked-about tale of some horrid act that people only talk about in hushed whispers.

One hundred years ago, even decades ago, those horrific stories went unnoticed by the country, as a whole. So, it seems that we are experiencing a massive increase in incidents like this. I think we are, but not to the degree that it would appear.

What is going on with our society?

I'm not sure if this guy ever saw combat/was he suffering from PTSD, but if that is the case, it points up one of our biggest societal problems: how we treat our warriors, when they come home from serving us.

A million years ago (it seems), we would have recognized a veteran as having been “shell-shocked”. That would have carried with it a certain stigma, coming from anyone who knew about the nature of the veteran's “illness”.

I think there are a lot of questions that need to be answered, here. I hope we get them soon and I pray we're able to discuss them freely and openly.

- Michael