What Do 26 of 27 Mass Shooters Have In Common?

Big difference between an absentee father and the mother works for a living and the kids see that's how you do it as opposed to one where the father was just a sperm donor to ensure welfare eligibility. I grew up fatherless-divorce-my parting memory of him is unpleasant.
No real role models for me, no mentors,I went on to be an Eagle Scout, Army veteran, and those who know me say I am something of a square.
Yes, I have known plenty of people who had fathers in their lives who were lazy, selfish, bad tempered and obnoxious-alcoholic-and who found their fathers illustrated the adage that "No man is completely useless-he can always serve as a bad example."
 
buck460XVR said:
Growing up as a kid in the 50s and 60s, I knew of very few kids growing up in a single parent home. Those that did, were generally living with their mom at grandpa and grandma's house. There was still that "family" experience and a positive male role model. Nowadays there are tons of second generation single parent families without a father or grandfather. Male role models are non-existent or whatever/whoever latches onto the kid. I often think mass murderers are trying to make other's lives as miserable and lonely as theirs.
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Unfortunately, your experience doesn't take into account the ghetto mentality. Back in the very early 1980s I was employed at the local public housing authority in the nearby city. Even then, almost forty years ago (that's two generations), we had families that had already been living in public housing for multiple generations. Many of them had three or four generations all living in the same apartment, and NONE of them had any fathers present. Want to know why? Read on ...

Several years after I had left the housing authority, I had to attend a meeting at the local university. The particular office I was going to was on the fringe of the university, and very near one of the largest of the public housing projects. I had parked on the street in the project. On my way back to my car, I found myself walking behind three young women who were apparently on their way home after school. They were discussing their hopes and dreams for the future. One of them said:

"Ah gots mah life all planned out. Soon's ah gets ta be 16 I'm gwanna drop out of school and have lotsa babies."

Yes, that's the way they think. Having babies is just a mechanism to getting a bigger welfare check -- it's not that they want a family or take any responsibility, kids are just the cost of doing business. THOSE are the fatherless children we need to worry about. They have no positive role model of either gender, anywhere in their lives.
 
If a person has a thought of slaughtering other people, whether it’s one or many, something is wrong with them mentally, bottom line. Nothing excuses it, nothing else can explain it away. So the one and only cause for mass shootings is mental illness.
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By that standard, virtually the entire human race has something wrong with them, mentally. According to various experts, noted authors, and our general religious belief systems EVERYONE has those kinds of THOUGHTS, at some point in their lives. Also suicide, just about everyone considers it, AS A THOUGHT at some point in their lives.

It is NORMAL.

Having such thoughts, as brief passing fantasies is normal, and healthy. DOING something that turns such thoughts into reality is not. Having such thoughts does NOT make one mentally ill. ACTING on them, does.

I think that saying "the one and only cause for mass shootings is mental illness" is just as simplistic and just as WRONG as saying "the one and only cause for mass shootings is a gun".

The big problem with saying "caused by mental illness" is the way we speak means everyone has a different idea of what mental illness is. Anyone who does something someone considers "crazy" is deemed "mentally ill". It is just too broad a brush to have any real meaning.

Some people consider anyone who owns a gun to be mentally ill. Some people think anyone who puts on a uniform must be mentally ill.

I think anyone who happens to like strawberry ice cream, or GLock pistols is mentally ill. But they sure do sell a lot of them...:rolleyes:

There are still people alive who remember a time when homosexuality was a listed mental illness in medical books.

For a long, long time, dissidents in the Soviet Union were not classed as criminals, they were officially "mentally ill" and were given "treatment".

If there is one defense I think should not be allowed in our criminal justice system, I think it is the "insanity" defense. Not knowing right from wrong (or being able to fool people into thinking you don't know right from wrong) does not in any way change what happened.

I will allow for differences in punishment, and in cases of actual mental incompetence, treatment in lieu of punishment, but if they did the act, they DID the act, and it makes NO difference to the victims why they did the act. I'm fine with a ruling of GUILTY, by reason of insanity, and something other than regular prison because of that. Why don't we even consider that??
 
I lack empirical data to speak individually to the last 27 (or so) mass shootings, but what strikes me routinely are statements made by students, parishioners, or others affiliated with the targeted facilities to the effect that "we knew if there were ever to be a mass shooting, he would be the shooter"; or "This has been coming for a long time - it wasn't a matter of "if", but "when"".

In case after case, witnesses or those who have been immersed in that socio-group had seen warning signs that (the shooter) was unstable - either social media posts and photos, bizarre behavior, school assignments, or some combination in their presentation.

I'm not a fan of criminalizing someone *before* they commit a crime, but this sort of pre-event 'social recognition' of someone's anti-social or psychotic inclination occurs too often after mass shootings to be written off as mere coincidence.
 
...but this sort of pre-event 'social recognition' of someone's anti-social or psychotic inclination occurs too often after mass shootings to be written off as mere coincidence.
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You might also consider the "coincidence" of people after the fact, saying some variation of, "I knew that one was going to be trouble..."

People who wouldn't, or didn't dare to say a word, except perhaps in their own gossip circle, before, suddenly become clairvoyant experts when someone shoves a microphone in front of them after a tragic event.

THEY "saw it coming", They get a mental attaboy in their own mind because "they told us so!" etc. Plus, its their own personal 15 minutes of fame.

Is this everyone? No. But, its a lot of people.

True, or not, how often have we seen a violent criminal taken down, and his mother says "he was a good boy" and others say "we knew he was bad..."

People SAY all kinds of crap...sometimes, its true, sometimes, its not.

So, here's the question, were all these mass killers recognized, and the risk ignored by everyone who "knew" them?

or is it, perhaps, that people in shock after a shooting tend to say similar things with 20/20 hindsight? People can convince themselves of a great many things, after the fact...
 
Doc Intrepid said:
I lack empirical data to speak individually to the last 27 (or so) mass shootings, but what strikes me routinely are statements made by students, parishioners, or others affiliated with the targeted facilities to the effect that "we knew if there were ever to be a mass shooting, he would be the shooter"; or "This has been coming for a long time - it wasn't a matter of "if", but "when"".

In case after case, witnesses or those who have been immersed in that socio-group had seen warning signs that (the shooter) was unstable - either social media posts and photos, bizarre behavior, school assignments, or some combination in their presentation.

I'm not a fan of criminalizing someone *before* they commit a crime, but this sort of pre-event 'social recognition' of someone's anti-social or psychotic inclination occurs too often after mass shootings to be written off as mere coincidence.
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Me neither but perhaps a 'red flag' that would institute a closer look at the person requesting a BGC for a firearm purchase..

Odessa shooter failed a BGC, BTW..no news as to how/where he got the gun..since he is KIA, may not know.
 
The only thing the Odessa shooter had on his record was a misdemeanor that wouldn’t have prevented him from obtaining a firearm.

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2019/09/02...-before-rampage-he-was-on-a-long-spiral-down/
Online court records show Ator was arrested in 2001 for a misdemeanor offense that would not have prevented him from legally purchasing firearms in Texas, although authorities have not said where Ator got the “AR style” weapon he used.
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Don’t think living in a strange house is a red flag, which is about all they have said about the shooter.
 
I don’t get red flag laws really.
How can a pre-crime be determined? Sounds a bit dystopian to me.

A law enforcement officer taught me a valuable lesson once. He said, “acting suspicious isn’t a crime.” I’ve always remembered that statement.
I don’t think taking certain medications or taking part in non criminal activities should be cause to loose constitutional rights.
 
Aguila Blanca said:
Unfortunately, your experience doesn't take into account the ghetto mentality. ..

Several years after I had left the housing authority, I had to attend a meeting at the local university. The particular office I was going to was on the fringe of the university, and very near one of the largest of the public housing projects. I had parked on the street in the project. On my way back to my car, I found myself walking behind three young women who were apparently on their way home after school. They were discussing their hopes and dreams for the future. One of them said:

"Ah gots mah life all planned out. Soon's ah gets ta be 16 I'm gwanna drop out of school and have lotsa babies."
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Unfortunately, your "Ghetto Mentality" theory doesn't explain why White men are responsible for more mass shootings in the US than any other race.
 
Basic U.S. demography explains that. The racial makeup of mass shooters closely tracks the same general proportions in the population at large (i.e. white, non-hispanic mass shooters are 63% or 54% of mass shooters depending on the study, white, non-hispanics are 61.5% of the general population circa 2017).
 
Basic U.S. demography explains that. The racial makeup of mass shooters closely tracks the same general proportions in the population at large (i.e. white, non-hispanic mass shooters are 63% or 54% of mass shooters depending on the study, white, non-hispanics are 61.5% of the general population circa 2017).
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There is a blip for Muslims. They are over-represented by population size.
 
Don’t think living in a strange house is a red flag, which is about all they have said about the shooter.
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No it' not. There was a NICS bar for mental.

Ator had tried purchasing a firearm in January 2014 but was denied, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement Tuesday. The agency said it was precluded by law from disclosing why, but the law enforcement official told the AP it was due to a “mental health issue.”
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https://www.wfla.com/news/national/texas-shooter-got-gun-at-private-sale-denied-in-2014-check/
 
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