In what has become a frequent obscenity, eight people were shot and killed late last night in Indianapolis by a shooter who took his own life. There will be the usual examination of his background, motivation, etc. which will most likely fit the normal pattern of mass killers in the past 20 years: angry and often isolated males, many harboring grudges or paranoid fantasies, political extremists and white supremacists, mental struggles, and so on. The most common thread of all, of course, is that a gun was used in the commission of the mass shooting, whether an assault rifle, a handgun or combinations of the two.
Linked here is a list of the mass shootings in just the past five years. They include the Boulder grocery store (10 dead), the Georgia spas (8), the El Paso Walmart (23), Thousand Oaks bar (12), the Pittsburgh synagogue (11), Margery Stoneman Douglas H.S. (17), Sutherland Springs church (26), Pulse nightclub (50), and the grim champion Las Vegas concert (58).
With the Trumpist / Republican cult in the pocket of the gun lobby, despite overwhelming support for stricter gun control measures, little is expected to happen with a divided Congress. But whatever can be accomplished to keep guns out of the hands of mass killers must be done, and quickly. That means support of the House-passed legislation for expanded background checks and more time for law enforcement to vet the buyer, and executive actions like President Biden's crackdown on "ghost guns" and pushing "red flag" legislation at the state level.
This time, as in the past, spare us the thoughts and prayers.
