Spree killings are rare. There have been a cluster of them during President Obama’s terms in office. There are good reasons for that. But let’s start with this, there are two types of mass killing.
The first is the rampage killer. These are socially isolated mental cases who hope to obtain a sort of immortality by killing as many people as possible. They want to “make the record book” and have “everybody know my name.” Rampage killers struck at the Gabbrielle Giffords shooting, the Aurora Theater attack, the Sandy Hook school killing, the Umpqua College shooting, and the Charleston Church shooting. The biggest driver of those type of mass killings: media coverage.
The media benefit from ratings and from politicization of the event. They use these events to further their anti-gun rights agenda to impose severe restrictions on gun ownership and use. The restrictions called for have little to no relationship to the mass killings committed. A fact that some outlets acknowledge — and ignore.
The more coverage given to these events, the more likelyhood that another fragile ego will see them as a means to fame and an end of their pain. It’s called the copycat effect, and is well documented. The media know about it, but they don’t care. Advancing their agenda is more important than a few dozen lives.
The copycat effect has been demonstrated and documented over and over again Clayton Cramer wrote a paper on this in 1993. It was published in a the Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 9:1 [Winter 1993-94]. It won First Place, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Ethics Prize, 1993, Undergraduate Division. It’s been widely written about in other publications, such as the Wall Street Journal. A book, The Copycat Effect, by Loren Coleman, was written in 2004. It detailed simple strategies for mitigating the effect and reducing the number of these mass public killings. They could be implemented without any significant chilling effect on the first amendment.
The second type of mass killing is the Islamist terrorist attack: the Boston Marathon attack, the Fort Hood massacre, the Chattanooga recruit center attack, the Garland shooting (which was stopped), the San Bernadino massacre, and the Orlando Pulse Massacre. These attacks have been facilitated by the Obama administration for two reasons. First, because the Islamicists see that they are winning. They have advanced mightily in Libya and Syria. The Americans left Iraq and are pulling out of Afghanistan. ISIS built up in the vacume left by Barak Obama in Iraq.
The failed “Arab Spring” policy destabilized Libya, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, while emboldening Iran. Islamicists have established organizations and safe zones in the chaos created by the Obama regime policies.
Islamicist are not swayed by talk of fellowship, of how Christians are the real threat, and Islam is the religion of peace. They see that talk as a sign of weakness. They believe that Allah has prepared their enemies for destruction. By appearing and acting weakly, the Obama administration has greatly encouraged our radical Islamic enemies.
Successful Islamist attacks against America have multiplied under the Obama administration. The Obama administration has sent signals, over and over again to the radical Islamist. Those signals are that America is weak and ready for defeat.
Those are the two reasons why mass killings have increased in the last eight years. Through its policies, the Obama administration has encouraged them. Pushing for more gun control encourages the media to give more coverage to mass killings. More coverage of mass killings encourages more mass killers. Appear weak and facilitating to Islamic terrorists, and you encourage more Islamic terrorists.
Both types of killers look for soft targets where there will be little opposition. The Obama administration has pushed for more “gun free zones,” and wants fewer people to be armed to defend themselves. Those policies have not advanced, in spite of the administration’s desires.
The rate of people being murdered in the United States has been at record low levels, some of the lowest in 50 years. But 2016 may be a turning point. The policies of the Obama administration have produced the Ferguson effect, where police officers are reluctant to police in inner cities. The murder rate in the inner cities has bounded upward in response.
The number of people killed in mass killling is a small fraction of those murdered in the United States. It will have a small effect on the overall murder rate. But add the Ferguson effect and the mass killings, and the murder rate in 2016 will increase.
Policies have consequences. The Obama regime is reaping the consequences of their polices. It will take years to undo the damage. It is sad that innocent people are dying as a result. Armed citizens cannot completely stop mass killings, but they can reduce the casualties. Here are over twenty cases where armed citizens stopped mass killers in their tracks.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch