News outlets across the country are keeping busy reporting on the multiple mass shootings that have occurred over the past 24 hours. In El Paso, a white male with an assault rifle targeted Hispanics in a Walmart. Victims include a 2-year old and a 6-year old. Later that evening, another shooting occurred in Dayton, Ohio that killed and injured multiple people in the city's Oregon District.
The details are many but after Sandy Hook, they almost don't matter. The thoughts and prayers begin once again. Talk of "common sense" gun measures that we surely can all get behind start. Let's not politicize. Let's come together and heal now. It is not the time to act.
Also, there is always the question of "Why?" and then invariably a discussion on how we need to look at the mental health of the individuals involved. How can someone do such horrible acts? How can someone use an AK-47 on a 2-year old?
It IS a mental health crisis, and one we need to focus on healing now.
A few weeks ago, I heard a story of a man who has everything. He lives a life that many of us would envy. Travel. Wealth. Professional success. While stressed at times with the pressures of work and continuing to build his empire, he has no threats to his life. He has reached a place where he can choose to spend his time as he wishes and sometimes that includes buying a new Porsche. Or a Ferrari.
However, his latest purchase was not a car, or a boat, or a new green lush lot. His latest purchase was an assault rifle. This person doesn't shoot. He doesn't even seem like he is worried about immigrants invading his country. He was informed that he should buy an new assault rifle by a friend who is concerned by the potential tightening of gun laws and that the scarcity this will bring could mean that the gun would raise in value. No one in this conversation seemed prepare to join forces to rise up against a tyrannical government as a member of a well-regulated militia. Rather, the rifle was an object of desire, of value, and one that would pay dividends in the future.
The gun was just something to buy because he could like the Porsche.
Let me tell you another story of a man I know. This man I respect in many ways. He is kind and generous. He can spin a tale, and I hope to spend more time with him soon. He also happens to own a number of guns and spends time shooting them.
One pleasant afternoon on a grassy hill, I overheard him chatting with another guy about a new shotgun he had just purchased. They both were excited about the model and that while it was super effective at vaporizing birds, it was also used by the military as the shotgun of choice. The feel, the report of the barrel, and even the overall quality of construction was remarked on. So smooth... you pull the trigger, and it is like nothing happened.
And one more story of a man I knew. Early on in my career, almost 20 years ago, I partnered with a man that struggled with social interactions at times. He was quick to temper. I didn't have a chance to really talk to him to understand why. One Friday, he brought in a long bag and proudly revealed a sleek black assault rifle. He beamed about how he could carry it around on the street (somehow). He pointed it at the wall of the office and described how it could shoot through walls into the next office and how the bullets would tumble in a body. He knew every detail of this object and loved it.
He even had calculated the cost of legal fees he'd incur if he happened to use it in an act of self-defense. From what I can remember, he thought the costs made using the weapon on someone else sort of a toss-up. Disappointing.
In every one of these instances, the same thought has crossed my mind.
What is wrong with these people?
Their love of guns and the accompanying complete dissociation from the violence their objects are intended to inflict felt discordant, dangerous, suicidal, and certainly a threat to myself, my family, and my community. When I see people describing their guns with love, pride, or even indifference, I see an uncanny valley open up in their eyes. The dream of power, safety, holding violence in their aging hands is too strong and too seductive. As these people hold their guns in their hands, they fail to see the people that fall in front of their barrels.
Guns like this in hand of citizens caused Sandy Hook and El Paso. The people perpetrating these actions may have had additional illnesses but clearly, they also loved guns in similar ways as the men I've described above.
As far as I know, these three men have not shot and killed anyone. I am also sure (pretty sure) that they would not align themselves with the white nationalist motivated slayings in El Paso or the killing of children at Sandy Hook. They might say that mental illness was the main and only cause in these cases, not the assault rifle.
Perhaps. But there is clearly another, deeply foundational mental illness afflicting our culture. As Pete Buttigieg mentioned on the Sunday morning talk shows, America is the only country with more guns than people. That is not sane. Loving guns and failing to see the connection that these objects have, in all forms and firepower, to the wave of mass shootings that leave children bleeding with their newly bought school supplies is delusional. This is the mental illness that we need to treat so that those who are otherwise delusional, crying out for help, or lost don't believe that guns and violence are the answers to their struggles.
In response to the El Paso shooting, Representative William Hurd said the following this morning on CBS' Face the Nation.
"...if you see something on social media of someone talking about doing a heinous crime like this, take a screenshot of it and share it with local law enforcement or the FBI's website."
He was referring to the El Paso shooter's manifesto and the tendency for terrorists to broadcast their ideals and plans on social media and that if citizens see something, they should say something.
I agree. If someone is broadcasting a mental illness that may lead to violence, they need help and need to be stopped. I believe this also applies to the dissociative mental illness that creates the space for assault rifles, hand guns, shotguns, and all firearms, to be easily obtained, used, and revered while ignoring any connection or responsibility for the violence these objects cause in our country.
If Sandy Hook did not change policy, little will. Even "common sense" gun laws will not address this core, gun loving, dissociative mental illness. This is not a problem that lawmakers will be able to address. If the culture of fear and gun violence in the United States is to change, the acceptance of guns as being a part of our way of life must change first.
We must start confronting those with this mental illness as well, even if there are close. It's much easier to stay silent when someone you respect starts talking about the force of their military assault shotgun or the new handgun they just purchased than it is to stand up and confront them, asking them why they purchased the gun, how they feel about it, if they see a connection between their love of guns and mass shootings, and if they feel any personal responsibility for the deaths in El Paso and Dayton.
As a former CIA operative and someone who works closely with law enforcement, Representative Hurd believes that one of the best defenses against crime is a well informed populace that can partner with law enforcement to identify threats. Guns are a threat to our families and civil society. Full stop.
If you see something, say something.