By Richard Fulmer
Too many of our nation’s young men use guns for evil. One knee-jerk response is to restrict gun ownership. But this solution ignores the most important question: What drives these young men to murder?
I’m personally all for trying to keep guns away from people with criminal records, mental illness, and histories of making violent threats. But the motives matter more than the means since a motivated person can adopt many different methods.
A review of the backgrounds of “lone wolf” shooters reveals similar pathologies. About half grew up without fathers and some without mothers. Over half had histories of mental illness. Some had criminal records. Most were bullied in schools that refused to enforce discipline. Most were socially isolated—isolation made worse by COVID and COVID lockdowns. Most spent much of their time playing violent video games and interacting online with other disaffected young men.
Given all this, it’s not hard to understand why they were angry and why they decided to wreak vengeance on the world. They are the products of a decades-long assault on the nation’s institutions: families, schools, religion, and culture. (This is offered as an explanation, not a justification. Nothing can excuse the evil they did.)
Since at least Robert Owen (1771-1858), many socialists have opposed the nuclear family. Marx and Engels called for the abolition of the family because they believed it to be the foundation of the capitalist system. Some on the left continue to oppose the family based on this belief.
In addition to those who condemn the family because of its supposed link to capitalism, some feminists claim that the family is an oppressive, patriarchal social construct designed to cement the status quo in place. And these aren’t just a few nutcases to whom no one listens. Sophie Lewis, for example, author of Abolish the Family (due out in October), is regularly featured in The New York Times and The Nation.
In the United States, family breakdown began in earnest when the “War on Poverty” institutionalized the war on families. Welfare laws not only created incentives for fathers to leave their families, welfare workers demanded that they leave. From the paper Family Breakdown and America’s Welfare System:
In the words of Harvard’s Paul Peterson, ‘some programs actively discouraged marriage,’ because ‘welfare assistance went to mothers so long as no male was boarding in the household… Marriage to an employed male, even one earning the minimum wage, placed at risk a mother’s economic well-being.’ Infamous ‘man in the house’ rules meant that welfare workers would randomly appear in homes to check and see if the mother was accurately reporting her family-status.
Even though the Supreme Court (King v. Smith) struck down “man-in-the-house“ rules in 1968, welfare policies still discourage marriage. (The Court found that the man in question did not support the mother’s children nor was he under legal obligation to do so. Its ruling means that Welfare restrictions apply only to fathers and not to “substitute fathers.”) Until 2018, federal income tax laws also penalized marriage, and the income tax laws of fifteen states still do.
Family destruction has come at a great cost. Well over half of the young men in our prisons today grew up without fathers. Kids from homes without dads are far more likely than their peers to live in poverty, drop out of school, become addicted to drugs or alcohol, commit rape, be unemployed, become homeless, and commit suicide.
The woke left further stokes anger in our youth by teaching them that they were born into a Western culture that is responsible for all the world’s ills, and that their skin color dictates that they are either oppressors or oppressed. Young men today quickly learn that their masculinity is “toxic.” White children are labelled “oppressors,” and young white men are told that – by virtue of their sex and skin color – they are responsible for the world’s long history of slavery, colonialism, racism, and, more recently, global warming.
Minority children are labeled “victims” and told that the deck is so stacked against them that they are incapable of improving their lives and those of their families through their own actions. They are told that they will be able to advance only after white people have perfected themselves and have abolished their whiteness, their privilege, and perhaps even themselves.
All these accusations are calculated to foment rage, and all are false. Slavery has existed for countless millennia in every part of the globe and still widely exists in (nonwestern) nations such as India, China, North Korea, Nigeria, Iran, Indonesia, Congo, Russia, Philippines, and Afghanistan.
Conquest has likewise existed throughout history and on every continent save Antarctica. Wikipedia’s list of empires, which it describes as “incomplete,” tallies some 264, starting with Sumer circa 4500 BC. Today’s growing empires are China, Russia, and Iran – hardly western, capitalist nations.
Tribal prejudice isn’t unique to the West or to white people; it’s as old as humanity.
Nor are carbon emissions restricted to Western, capitalist countries. China’s carbon footprint, for example, exceeds that of all other developed countries combined, and the Chinese are currently building many more coal-fired power plants.
While there are advantages to belonging to the majority in any country, American minorities are hardly oppressed, and certainly not in comparison to minorities in other countries. Minority children do not need permission from white people to succeed.
A quarter of black adults have bachelor’s degrees or higher; Nigerian Americans are the most educated ethnicity in the country. The ethnicities with the top ten household incomes in the U.S. are (from highest to lowest) Asian Indian, Taiwanese, Australian, Filipino, South African, Basque, Indonesian, Latvian, Macedonian, and Pakistani. Americans of English descent rank 38th, behind Iranian (11), Lebanese (12), Chinese (16), and Japanese (17).
What is distinctive about the West is that it determined that slavery, conquest, imperialism, and racism are wrong. Adam Smith, considered by many to be the “father of capitalism,” argued that, not only are slavery and colonialism immoral, but they are also counterproductive. People produce more when they benefit from their efforts than when they labor under the lash or at the point of a bayonet.
Though the woke left hasn’t yet been able to completely rewrite our nation’s history, it has managed to fuel an angry backlash. For example, studies have shown that DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) training tends to increase racism. The problem appears to be that much of the training emphasizes group differences rather than focusing on shared values, goals, and interests.
Dividing people – and especially the impressionable young – into “oppressors” and “oppressed” is unlikely to foster racial harmony.
Rather than endlessly debating guns, let’s explore why so many people want to use them to murder others. Let’s rebuild the institutions that have been so badly damaged over the last half century by people who want to “burn it all down.”
We can start by ending government policies that are destroying our families and our schools, and we can stop teaching our children that their skin color makes them either evil or helpless.
Richard Fulmer worked as an engineer and a systems analyst, and is now retired and a free-lance writer. He has published some thirty articles and book reviews in free market magazines and blogs. With Robert L. Bradley Jr., Richard wrote the book, Energy: The Master Resource, which was required reading in classes at four different universities, including the University of Texas and the University of Toronto. He is currently working on another book, Caveman Economics: Basic Economics in 25 Prehistoric Tales.
This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.
Obama and his ‘fundamentally transform’ this country cannot happen without making people crazy.
The snakes in this country are running free with a very large part of the population too blinded by indifference to see what’s really going on in this country.
Waaaay too much emphasis placed on the “Gun.” That happens all the time when people allow Gun Control zealots to set the pace. If a criminally insane individual will use a gun to murder innocent people it is highly likely they will criminally misuse no NCIC check bricks, bats, knives, vehicles etc.
This congressional knee jerk trip over each other running to Gun Control for answers is sick, sick, sick. Especially when history confirms Gun Control in any shape, matter or form is rooted in racism and genocide…Don’t you think?
The left is not “woke”. Woke implies eyes are open and if the left was woke they would/should see that the virtue signalling is counterproductive. The left is comfortably numb!
comfortably numb is the new woke.
This “Woke” B.S. is just one of many of their tactics to bring about the destruction of our Republic.
The anti-gun have been roaming around a lot more here since the Bruen decision. They aren’t uncommon around here but seems to be out more visibly since Bruen. The gun carriers here have a sort of agreement with them – they get to rant and we get to laugh at and ignore them.
I saw one yesterday, a woman wearing a red T-shirt that said in big white letters ‘WOKE!”, and on the back had that gun in a circle with a line through it ‘gun prohibition’ thing. I open carry sometimes, just happen to have been doing it yesterday. She was staring at my gun and me with a look of hatred that would slice through anything better than a light saber could. I said to her “Where did you get that T-shirt? I want one that says SCOTUS” and I spelled out ‘S C O T U S’ slowly for her – then I skedaddled out the door of the store as she exploded into a temper tantrum fit of rage screaming at me inside the store.
No, “woke” implies their eyes are closed to proper grammar, along with everything else. “Woke” is the perfect word to describe them.
FBI Created Today’s Disaffected Lone Wolf Killers
Nice article.
Repeal the 19th Amendment.
The communists in our country know and practice the divide and conquer strategy . They use race, age, culture, income , religion, gender, etc. to create victimhood. Also relating the fact that slavery is evil, which it is, they want total disarmament to actually enslave those that they pander too. Since all of this b s are lies, think of who the “father of all lies” is. He has been at it since Adam & Eve and hasn’t let up.
HEAR! HEAR! Ed. The Truth at last.
Amazed to see the single parent (or less) factor called out.
I don’t care about any of that, because there’s nothing I can do to “fix” those things.
“Blessed are those who, in the face of death, think only about the front sight.” Jeff Cooper
This Republic is being destroyed from within. Too many people in this country unknowingly and knowingly cooperate with our enemies to cripple and destroy this country. They use racial division, class division, political division, sexual confusion, and the bogus claim that humankind is causing climate change to keep us in constant confrontation with each other. The mass media, entertainment industry, and Democrat Party are working together in lock-step to bring our demise to fruition.
How dare you teach history to the masses,,,
You should be ashamed, is what a woke individual would say, if they were able to read English in today’s environment.
Should all be turning around in due time since the predominate reaction to overturning Roe is calls for abstinence and government support of families.
Those claiming “conservatism is the new counter-culture” years ago must have forseen the riotous, rebellious and revolutionary youth of today calling for a return to family values as though it were some kind of protest movement.
Good article detailing Russia’s (and China’s) goal to destroy the European Man.
https://jrnyquist.blog/2022/06/20/twilight-of-the-magicians-aleksandr-dugin-and-the-war-against-the-west/
Also look up 45 communist goals to take over America.
Happy Independence Day
THERE A MILLON OF KIDS UNDER 21 THAT DON’T KILL , FOR THE FEW THAT DO , WELL , RUIN FOR ALL OF US , NOW MAKE LAWS THAT 21 IN OLDER CAN ONLY BUY GUNS LARGER THAN 22LR CALIBER .
IF UNDER 21 SHUT THE HELL UP AND HAVE TO WAIT TO BUY LARGER THAN 22LR CALIBER .
STFU you amoeba.
This may be the most important thing I’ve read in a very long time. Get it out there, either this page or the original FEE.org link for the gun-haters who would dismiss anything from this site.
As I have said before TTAG and I will say again. The s0ci@lists pr0gressives, the atheists, the feminists, the h0m0sexu@ls, the drug legalization crowd, the Libertarians, Liberals and the left, all disagreed with the Christians. When the Christian said a father is necessary in the home. All of them totally support the welfare industrial complex. They believe a father can be replaced with a government welfare check.
A single mother with 5 kids from 5 different men and never getting married to either one of them. Because the government is paying her to not get married. And they will prosecute her if she has a relationship with a man.
They don’t believe a Father’s Love and discipline are necessary in the raising of young children. They are comfortable having the father’s guns replaced by The Guns of a big city police department.
And that is why the major cities in the United States have very high crime rates. Crime that is particularly committed by young teenage boys. And in many instances crimes committed by teenage girls as well.
School used to have rifle teams, archery teams, and fencing teams. And many students would bring their own weapons to school. And then never harmed anyone. Because these loved and disciplined children knew not to disappoint their parents.
And they didn’t want to disappoint their coaches and weapons instructors.
Fathers and Church…go figure. Maybe even gender roles. A basics of how to be human to fall back on in times of uncertainty, for those too weak minded to see through the BS…
“In the United States, family breakdown began in earnest when the “War on Poverty” institutionalized the war on families. Welfare laws not only created incentives for fathers to leave their families, welfare workers demanded that they leave.”
“It’s not nice, but it’s reality. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee…”
(Buffy St.Marie)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know.
The ‘Indego Girls’ are Leftist Scum ™ to the *bone*… 🙁
The turtles object to bad parenting lead to bad turtles.
You humans just wont leave us alone will you.
FREE HAPPY ! ! !
Down With Humans
Power To The Possums
“Down With Humans
Power To The Possums”
Yeah, about that :
*Snicker*
I found this post very interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing your special thoughts with us. I definitely share this with my peeps.
Systemic racism still exists. Last year the NFL pledged to halt the use of “race-norming” — which assumed Black players started out with lower cognitive function — in a $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims and to review past scores for any potential race bias. This practice made it harder for Black retirees who as a result of prior head injuries to show a cognitive deficit and to qualify for benefits. If this is not an example of systemic and institutional racism, then what is?
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