Different Takes: Mass Shootings Like El Paso’s Are About Evil, Not Mental Health; Red Flag Laws Have Good Intentions But Set Bad Precedent
Opinion writers express views about the motives behind recent mass shootings and how to stop them.
The Washington Post:
What Happened In El Paso Is Not About Mental Health. It’s About Evil.
Whenever there is a mass shooting, far too many people (cough, Republicans) ignore the proliferation of weapons of war on American streets that slaughter innocents and shred communities in a matter of seconds. Instead, they amble over to their bookshelf, pull out the Book of Talking Points, and mutter on and on about other things they think drove someone to commit mass murder. They mewl about violent video games or the mental health of the murderer. Not to diminish the absolute necessity to take mental health seriously or to address it, but the way Republicans and the National Rifle Association talk about it is as predictable as it is tiresome. But here’s the question I keep asking myself: Can’t someone just be plain evil? Can’t someone hear the words from those they admire and act on the implicit or explicit messages delivered? (Jonathan Capehart, 8/6)
Los Angeles Times:
As The El Paso Massacre Showed Once Again, White Supremacy Is The Poison In Our Well
Most people know that racism and white supremacy have been part of America since even before we became a nation. There’s no need to recount the slavery system on which this country’s early wealth was built, from Southern plantations to New England-owned slave ships to the rise of Wall Street banks that financed both the cotton and slave trades. Most of us also know about the Jim Crow system, the bouts of xenophobia, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II. (8/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
A Yellow Light For Red-Flag Laws
President Trump’s proposal to “red flag” potential mass shooters is well-intentioned. If we could prevent even one mass killing by identifying and disarming the potential perpetrator beforehand, it would be worthwhile. But do we have the tools to do it, and at what cost to our constitutional rights?I have studied, taught and written for half a century about the difficulties of predicting violence. (Alan M. Dershowitz, 8/6)
Fox News:
To Stop More Shootings, Stop Erasing Criminal Records Of Juveniles Prone To Violence
The time has come to change the way we deal with the records of troubled juveniles once they legally become adults. No longer should we simply expunge information symptomatic of violence that may be yet to come. (Jason Chaffetz, 8/7)
Bloomberg:
El Paso, Dayton Shootings: Channel Anger Into Gun Law Reform
Two mass shootings in 24 hours have left at least 31 people murdered and many dozens more wounded. This, just a few days after a shooter at a festival in California killed three and wounded a dozen — with shooting sprees in Brooklyn, Chicago and Mississippi that also left people dead, dozens wounded and communities shaken. (Michael R. Bloomberg, 8/5)
The Wall Street Journal:
Flagging Future Killers
The Dayton and El Paso shootings have spurred familiar calls for more gun control, and by all means let’s have a debate. But the focus should be on denying weapons to the potential killers rather than on gun laws that may be politically satisfying but won’t make much difference. Start with the calls for more “background checks,” which implies none now exist. Yet nearly all gun purchasers today have their backgrounds checked on the spot via the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Most mass shooters obtained their guns through licensed dealers after checks, or from family members. The Dayton and El Paso killers, and the Gilroy, Calif., shooter of late July obtained their firearms legally. (8/6)
The New York Times:
Trump’s Biggest And Most Dangerous Lie
When a president orders up a special script, summons the national media and sends a message to all Americans that the “sinister ideologies” of “racism, bigotry and white supremacy” have no place here, the normal response is to cheer. But these aren’t normal times. Donald Trump isn’t a normal president. And those words, which he spoke on Monday, made me feel sick, because they were just cheap and hollow sops to convention. He doesn’t believe them. Or rather, he doesn’t care. (Frank Bruni, 8/6)
The Washington Post:
Moms Demand Action After El Paso And Dayton: These Women Are Ready To Fight Gun Violence After More Mass Shootings
Yes, she did cry. “I did. A little bit,” said Abbey Clements, dabbing under her eyes as she left the back room of the tattoo parlor, into a cheering crowd of middle-aged women in the lobby. “But not because it hurt. Because, well, because of everything. All of it, it’s like this is my battle scar.” Because, as an artist was piercing her 50-year-old skin for the first time with an ink needle to write “One Tough Mother” on her back, Clements remembered the sound of 20 first-graders being slaughtered across the hall while she sang Christmas carols to her second-graders at Sandy Hook Elementary nearly seven years ago. (Petula Dvorak, 8/5)
