NEWS FEED SUNDAY: TX Mass Shooting: Gun Control won’t Solve the Problem

J Robert Smith

  • Sept. 1, 2019
  • 2 min read

At least 24 people were shot and five people were killed Saturday in a series of shootings in the area of Midland and Odessa, Texas, an Odessa city official told Fox News.

A suspect, who local police identified only as a white male in his mid-30s, was shot and killed at an Odessa movie theater, local police said.

— Fox News, September 1, 2019

QUICK TAKE

At this writing, details remain sketchy about the second mass shooting in Texas in less than a month. But we do know this: a chorus of calls will erupt today from Democrats and the MSM for stricter gun control laws. It’s as predictable as the sun rising.

The Odessa-Midland shootings are as tragic as the El Paso shootings in early August. But, once again, the trouble isn’t guns. It’s the deranged or outright evil young men who are committing these savage acts. Most of the killers are white males. We know nothing yet about the dead Odessa-Midland shooter, other than he was – yes – a white male in his mid-30s. But it’s a fair bet that he will eventually be described as angry, grudge-holding, alienated.

Modern society doesn’t lend itself to close communities. Many families are broken. The social fabric is tattered. Traditional values have been dumped in favor of a “If it feels good, do it” ethos. Faith is eschewed. Anomie is like a cancer.

That’s not to exempt this shooter or any of the others from personal responsibility. Most angry young men don’t kill, much less commit mas murder. The individual is ultimately responsible for his actions. But something is much more deeply wrong than a gun, which is a tool. Going after guns is a superficial “solution.”

There are an estimated 393 million firearms in the U.S. Gun confiscation would be nearly impossible, even with the most draconian measures. Overwhelmingly, guns aren’t used in the commission of crimes, violent or otherwise. Anymore than knives are used. Though an eruption of knife attacks in London has the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, absurdly calling for knife control.

Deranged or evil minds are going to finds ways to create mayhem and kill – with or without guns.

Constricting or removing Americans’ 2nd Amendment rights won’t solve the problem of mass killings. Reducing the threat of mass shooting means identifying troubled young men at the community level. The remedies are harder. But interventions are needed to get at the anger and alienation that drives them to kill.

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