In El Paso, Texas, a 21-year-old white male aggrieved by “race mixing” opened fire with an AK-47 at a Walmart popular with Mexican tourists Saturday morning, killing 20 people and injuring 26 more, 9 of whom reportedly were in critical condition at area hospitals (2 of whom subsequently died).
No one was exempt for his rage; the injured range in age 4 months to 80 years old. The shooter, identified by authorities as Patrick Crusius, surrendered to police, confessed, and told authorities he was targeting “Mexicans.” Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty, and Texas being Texas, there’s a good chance he’ll be executed.
In Dayton, Ohio, a 24-year-old white male fast food worker disgruntled by being denied entry to a bar returned with an AR-15, killed 9 people, and wounded 20 more in less than a minute, which is how long it took for police to respond and kill him.
Most mass shooters don’t survive. That doesn’t deter them. Many commit suicide at the conclusion of their killing sprees, rather than face the criminal justice system and the prospect of long years in a concrete cell. They’re losers on the way out who for their own twisted reasons have a burning desire to take innocent strangers with them.
To the victims of both shootings and their families, President Trump offered his “thoughts and prayers” this weekend. That’s all anybody will ever get from him or any other Republican, because the GOP is adamantly opposed to gun restrictions of any kind, even common-sense measures like universal background checks, which is supported by 90% of the public.
The Democratic House has passed background check legislation, and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is demanding that Senate Majority Leader “Moscow Mitch” McConnell bring it to a Senate vote. Don’t hold your breath. The only way we’re going to change this is at the ballot box.
Background checks are essential, but not enough, if we don’t also enact laws to keep guns away from people who shouldn’t have them — and limit the kinds of guns people can own. There’s absolutely no reason for civilians to have military weapons. Conservatives’ justification for this? To overthrow our government, if we ever get a government that meets their definition of “tyranny.” That, alone, should give you shudders. For some of these people, the mere election of a black president was enough to trigger talk of “civil war.” In my book, that puts them among the last people who should ever be allowed to touch an assault rifle.
Photos: Upper left, the El Paso shooter on surveillance video (New York Post); lower right, the individual identified by police as the Dayton shooter.