Mass Shootings Are Acts of Terrorism. Who Is to Blame?
What is happening in America? In two weeks, two 18 year old shooters have attacked two public places with AR 15 rifles, allegedly committing mass murder against victims to whom they had no relation. There are many facts that set these two incidents apart. But they are essentially similar, both featuring “lone wolf” perpetrators, and generating the same unified argument about gun control across mass media. Why does this only happen in America?! asks the left wing pundit. Their implied answer is the 2nd amendment. But what other features make America exceptional?
The apparent difference between the incidents in Buffalo and Uvalde is the motivation of the shooter. The Buffalo incident was pre meditated as well as broadcast and recorded. The shooter is alleged to have had a specific political motive which consisted of White Nationalism. He posted a long manifesto on the internet which featured the plagiarized musings of Brenton Tarrant and cover art which shared the iconography of the neo Nazi “Azov” battalion in Ukraine whose commanders were about to be “evacuated” out of their stronghold by their Russian enemies.
Thus the Buffalo shooting, as alleged, was an explicitly terrorist act. Terrorists have political motives. Without political motive, mass murder cannot be an act of terrorism. The point of terrorism is first to create fear and remorse, but second, most crucially, to demand a political solution. In the Uvalde shooting, the motive remains unknown, and the alleged perpetrator is dead. The Uvalde shooting, despite the fact that it engenders even more terror (and an even louder argument about gun rights), is presented as a sort of crime of passion, an example of “mental illness” as a catalyst to unspeakable violence. Were one or both of these shooters mentally ill?
That has long been the soft gun control argument, that we need stronger background checks and higher hurdles put up against these “lone wolf” teenagers who go nuts and try to murder as many innocents as possible. But if these are indeed terrorist acts, since they fulfill both criteria of terrorizing the public and demanding political solutions to the problem, can they really have been carried out by mentally ill lone wolves? Are mentally ill people terrorists? Do they normally commit terrorist acts? The answer is no. Terrorism is a cold political calculus.
Furthermore, does the U.S. have more “mentally ill” teenagers than the rest of the world? Could that be part of the problem, if these events are indeed as they seem? If so, can gun control really change our exceptional record of school shootings and supermarket shootings and church and theater shootings? Any “mentally ill” person who desires to murder school children can easily do so with a motor vehicle. Or even a kitchen knife. Admittedly, the Uvalde shooter did a lot more damage than a minivan could have perpetrated, but then again he also had an hour alone with his victims while the cops stood guard outside. A car can easily murder as many or more people as a gun. A car is much more available than a gun to the average teenager.
Public schools full of young children are not only the softest targets for mass murder, they are also the location where mass murder creates the most terror. Public schools are the only place in America where most people are required to be for days and years on end. The terror of school shootings is that the target is defenseless in a location that they must attend with or without their consent. Schoolchildren are terrorized in America; they have no choice but to put themselves in harm’s way. Furthermore, parents are made to feel guilty for allowing their children to be so exposed. So the question is, why do “mentally ill” crimes of passion like Uvalde and Newtown strike the same targets that would appeal to a terrorist organization?
When the left wing pundits ask “Why does this only happen in America”, I don’t think the 2nd amendment is the right answer. And I don’t think mental illness is the right answer. I think the right answer is that these are acts of terrorism. And like all acts of terrorism, they are carried out by political organizations.
You might want to stop reading here if you’ve found any of this convincing. I am about to double down on my own “mental illness”, which is critical thought, and posit that these shootings are entirely fake. This is perfectly consistent with them being acts of terrorism. Here’s the thing, violence is not the goal of terrorism. Terror is the goal of terrorism. In fact, terrorism can be the mere threat of violence. Real terrorism can be accomplished through fake violence. It can be accomplished through real violence as well, obviously, but there are disadvantages to this approach, especially if you are trying to terrorize the entire American electorate and not some Palestinian goat herders. Fake violence is easier and cheaper to manufacture at scale. It may also have the advantage of being legal.
The Buffalo shooter wore a head camera so he could live stream a first person view of his shooting spree. You should watch it if you haven’t. It’s not bloody at all. There’s more gore in an episode of the The Simpsons. Furthermore, no one appears to suffer in the video. Everyone who is shot falls down and stops moving immediately. There are no moments of agony. No death throes. Just rag dolls.
The Buffalo shooter steps out of his car and the first thing he does is shoot a white woman in the head. I mean, she sure looks like a white woman, and she is rendered instantly unconscious by a single rifle shot. I was very surprised to learn that all ten fatalities in the Buffalo shooting were black. Was this a white woman who was shot in the head and survived? Or was she a black woman? Again, I encourage everyone to watch the video. It shows neither bloodshed nor human suffering. Watching it is not about satisfying some morbid interest or condoning or supporting the actions of the shooter. It is about understanding the evidence of the crime. Understanding the evidence of the crime is the only way to understand the nature of the crime.
Finally, I conclude this essay by answering the question in its title. Mass shootings mostly happen in America because they are mostly manufactured by our own intelligence agencies. Their history of plotting terrorism against American citizens is not secret. The CIA was to be the operational muscle for Operation Northwoods. Although this nascent program was rejected by JFK, his brain was misplaced shortly thereafter, and the activities of the CIA and FBI in the following decades are beyond abhorrent. We are supposed to believe these agencies are reformed, thanks to the power of Democracy. But deceit has been their modus operandi from day one. We should never trust that they have given it up.