Different Takes: Lessons On How To Deal With Domestic Terrorism From White Nationalists

The New York Times: We Have A White Nationalist Terrorist Problem 
If one of the perpetrators of this weekend’s two mass shootings had adhered to the ideology of radical Islam, the resources of the American government and its international allies would mobilize without delay. ...No American would settle for “thoughts and prayers” as a counterterrorism strategy. No American would accept laying the blame for such an attack on video games, like the Texas lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, did in an interview on Sunday when discussing the mass shooting in El Paso that took 20 lives and left 27 people wounded. (8/4)

Dallas Morning News: America Must Root Out White Nationalist Terrorism Now
El Paso was an act of terrorism, but one that should drive us to cast fear aside and reinforce the fundamental principles and values of this country.  To preserve our values, we must first live by them. That means we need to combat terrorism, whether it be foreign or domestic. It also means that we need to take clear and convincing steps and act with urgency to stop mass shootings in on our communities.  (8/5)

Politico: What Both Sides Don't Get About American Gun Culture 
The two mass shootings this weekend have inflamed a gun-control debate that never seems to go away and never seems to get resolved. In the span of less than 24 hours, El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, joined a morbid parade of American cities and towns—places such as Littleton, Colorado; Virginia Beach, Virginia; San Bernardino, California; Las Vegas; and Pittsburgh—as sites of tragic, mass shootings. In the not quite eight months of 2019, there have been seven such attacks. After each one, political leaders of all stripes send their thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims, and Democrats and Republicans offer radically different responses. (Austin Sarat and Jonathan Obert, 8/4)

The Washington Post: On Guns And White Nationalism, One Side Is Right And One Is Wrong
When one side proposes ways that human beings might begin to solve a deadly problem while the other side leaves it up to God, you know which side is right. When one side proposes solution after solution to contain gun violence — and offers compromise after compromise to get something done — while the other side blocks action every time, you know which side is right. When the president of the United States and his most incendiary media allies fuel hatred of those who are not white while his opponents say we should stand in solidarity with one another, you know which side is right. (E.J. Dionne Jr., 8/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Mental Illness And Mass Murder
Based on the increase in the U.S. population, there are now some one million people with serious mental illness living among the general population who, 60 years ago, would have been treated in state mental hospitals. Multiple studies have reported that, at any given time, between 40% and 50% of them are receiving no treatment for their mental illness. With the best of intentions and the worst of planning, America has emptied out its public psychiatric hospitals without ensuring that the released patients would receive the necessary treatment to control their symptoms. What did we think would happen? (E. Fuller Torrey, 8/4)

The Washington Post: Even If He Isn’t Encouraging Violent Attacks On Immigrants, Trump May Be Uniquely Unwilling To Curtail Them
The motive of Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso which left 20 people dead has not yet been confirmed by law enforcement. There is reason to believe, however, that before opening fire the shooting suspect published a short screed disparaging immigrants to the United States and warning of an “invasion” of Hispanics. That term is one that Trump himself has used to describe migrants seeking entry to the United States from Mexico. Trump has repeatedly hinted at meeting migrants with violence. In May, someone at one of Trump’s rallies in Florida replied to his rhetorical question about how the arrival of migrants could be stopped by saying they should be shot. Trump made light of the comment: “That’s only in the Panhandle you can get away with that statement.” (Philip Bump, 8/4)

The Wall Street Journal: The Killers In Our Midst 
His supporters may be correct that Mr. Trump’s opponents will not reciprocate by pushing back against the irrational elements on the left. But a President has a special role in the American system even if our politics has elevated the Presidency more than it should. Either Mr. Trump restrains his rhetoric or he will pay a consequential political price. Joe Biden’s theme of a return to “decency” and “normalcy” will resonate with even millions of Trump voters if Mr. Trump doesn’t change. (8/5)

Los Angeles Times: Nearly All Mass Shooters Have 4 Things In Common
In the last week, more than 30 people have died in three separate mass shootings in Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton, Ohio. We believe that analyzing and understanding data about who commits such massacres can help prevent more lives being lost. For two years, we’ve been studying the life histories of mass shooters in the United States for a project funded by the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. We’ve built a database dating back to 1966 of every mass shooter who shot and killed four or more people in a public place, and every shooting incident at schools, workplaces, and places of worship since 1999. We’ve interviewed incarcerated perpetrators and their families, shooting survivors and first responders. We’ve read media and social media, manifestos, suicide notes, trial transcripts and medical records. (Peterson and Densley, 8/4)

The Washington Post: The Media’s By-The-Numbers Coverage Of Gun Massacres Must Change
Sadly, we in the news media know just how to do it. When a mass shooting happens, even when it happens twice in a 24-hour period — even when the death toll soars into the dozens — we reflexively spring into action. We describe the horror of what happened, we profile the shooter, we tell about the victims’ lives, we get reaction from public officials. It’s difficult, gut-wrenching work for those journalists who are on the scene. And then there’s the next one. And the next one. (Margaret Sullivan, 8/4)

Los Angeles Times: Column: El Paso Shooting Follows NRA Pushing Looser Texas Gun Laws
What is most horrifying about the killings in El Paso, Texas, where a man openly carrying a rifle strolled into a Walmart in a shopping mall and opened fire, killing at least 20 people and wounding another 40, is not that they happened. Nor even that they reflect a circumstance of American life that has become so mundane that politicians can pull a premasticated statement of “thoughts and prayers” out of their files and post it on Twitter even before the blood has dried. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/4)