Earlier today, the nation was horrified when reports surfaced of a mass shooter at a Minneapolis, Minnesota, church and school.
According to reports so far, the shooter barricaded the doors to block the exits, then opened fire through various windows.
At least two children were murdered, and more than a dozen were injured, and now we know who the shooter is.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara described a horrific scene, stating, "During the mass, a gunman approached on the outside on the side of the building and began firing a rifle through the church windows towards the children sitting in the pews at the mass. Shooting through the windows, he struck children and worshipers that were inside the building.”
He continued, "Two young children, ages eight and 10, were killed where they sat in the pews. Their parents have been notified. Seventeen other people were injured, 14 of them being children. The coward who fired these shots ultimately took his own life in the rear of the church."
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey added, "We are a Minneapolis family. But to everybody out there, do not think of these as just somebody else's kids. Those families are suffering immense pain right now. Think of this as if it were your own. Every one of us needs to be wrapping our arms around these families, giving them every ounce that we can muster.”
As expected, the incident was immediately politicized.
The alleged shooter has since been identified as Robin Westman, with reports also surfacing that Westman previously identified as Robert.
Westman is in his early 20s, and appeared to have an obsession with mass shootings, and he allegedly posted several videos on social media before the shooting that were disturbing in nature.
In one video, Westman turned the pages of what appeared to be a journal of some sort.
The other video showed what we have to believe were the weapons and ammunition used in the assault, many of which contained anti-Trump messages.
Democrats do not want to talk about the mental illness aspect of this incident, which is why the media is likely calling Westman a man, rather than referring to him as transgender.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) fired the first shot, stating, “We must do more to stop gun violence in America." House Minority Leader Jeffries (D-N.Y.) went straight to the point, adding, "Weapons of war have no place in our neighborhoods, streets or schools."
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) piled on, adding, "Events like these should not be our ‘normal.’ The simple solution is to pass sensible gun control. Without that, these tragedies will continue to happen, and children will continue to die.”
These events sicken me, as they are horrible atrocities, but blaming the weapon does not solve the problem. Every time we see an incident of this type, we always find out there was some mental issue or some warning (in this case, the social media videos). We are literally normalizing mental illness by humoring people for fear of offending them, and this is the result. Until society stands up to that, these individuals who have snapped will use guns, knives, bombs, cars, etc., to carry out their evil plans. Don’t blame the weapon… dig for the root of the problem. However, there are no political points to be scored for that, so we are unlikely to ever see that happen.
