No real mystery as to what happened.
I have noted before, time and time again, that trying to get "the latest news" is not only pointless, but bound to be wildly inaccurate. No one knows what is going on or what went on, during a mass shooting or a three-alarm-fire or an earthquake or hurricane or whatever. Wild unsubstantiated reports abound and are amplified by a news media hungry to be "first with the news" and have an "exclusive."
Sadly, it has been shown that first impressions tend to dominate people's minds - and the news cycle. So the "Atlanta Bomber" is misidentified as a security guard and his life is ruined. The same thing happened with the Boston Marathon bomber - the wrong guy was fingered and it is only a miracle that some online nut job didn't lynch him.
A day later, a week later, a month later, a year later - a decade later - we find out the truth. The two kids who shot up Columbine High School were mentally ill with access to guns. That's it. No compelling backstory or "manifesto" or motive. No "trench coat mafia" or hunt for Christian students - but today if you ask most people, they will say it was one or both.
Mentally ill people plus guns - it pretty much explains most, if not all, mass shootings and murders and other forms of mayhem.
In this most recent example, some on the Right were quick to capitalize on it - including Trump's now-VP pick - that Biden somehow "ordered" an assassination through violent rhetoric. But of course, Trump has never advocated for violence against his enemies, rather he has promised it. Other Republican operatives speculated it was a Chinese agent, an illegal immigrant, an "Antifa" activist (thank you very much, MTG!) or a transgender person. All of course, were wrong.
In the days since the shooting, which left a fireman and father dead, it has emerged that the shooter wasn't some expert marksman, but rather a troubled young man whose Dad decided to buy him a gun (or at the very least, leave it unsecured) in an echo of the Sandy Hook shootings. The kid started out as a Democrat in 2017, but quickly jumped on the Trump train, often making himself a target of bullying by espousing conservative views. He followed a YouTube channel of a "second amendment" promoter and even bought "merch" from him - and was wearing it when the shooting happened. Ironically, he was not allowed to join the rifle club at school because of his poor aim. I suspect there is a real reason he wasn't allowed to join. After all, don't you join something like that to get better at aiming?
But what is puzzling is why a registered Republican and avowed conservative would shoot at the party's nominee. And the answer is simple: Mental Illness and Guns. They don't mix well.
UPDATE: The Wikipedia page linked above has been recently edited to say that there are "conflicting accounts" as to his political views. Let the spin-cycle begin! By the end of the week, he will be listed as a BLM and Antifa member. Truth is elastic these days!
Our "founding fathers" put the second amendment in the Constitution so that an "well-regulated militia" could be forms. Note the word, "regulated."
I don't think the authors of the Bill of Rights envisioned that this clause would encompass the "right" of an insane neighbor to own a cannon and take pot-shots at people he didn't like. Only those eligible for the "well-regulated militia" would have the right to own reasonable firearms. And in that era, well, the eligible didn't include minorities or women - and certainly not the insane.
Organizations like the NRA have pushed for lax restrictions - or no restrictions - on gun ownership, going so far as to advocate for gun ownership for the mentally ill or those who have a history of violence. The Supreme Court seems to have cleared the way for this, other than to comment that someone with a history of domestic violence might be restricted from owning a gun. No problem - he just buys one at a gun show!
The problem, of course, is to determine who is and isn't mentally ill - and how to track them in this era of HIPPPA where patient's rights trump everything else. And even in situations where people clearly should not have been allowed to buy firearms, these folks somehow fell through the cracks, resulting in many deaths.
But why would a Republican shoot a Republican? As some have pointed out, the man who shot John Lennon was a fan of his - at one time - before finding Jesus (and losing his mind). What motivated this young man to go after Trump is anyone's guess and in the long run it doesn't matter what the specific motivation was.
Because the actual cause was mentally ill with guns.
