Sunday, May 25, 2014

How to prevent multiple murders. The Elliot Rodger Story.

       If you didn't know already, Elliot Rodger was a troubled young man in California.  His father was an assistant director of the Hunger Games.  He killed 6 people on the 23rd of May, as part of a revenge plot.  (source).  Apparently he felt that not getting laid in college was the fault of the women who didn't sleep with him.

       This story is much worse than it sounds, however.  The police had several run-ins with him, at the behest of his family.  The most recent on April 30th.  Each time they completely failed to do what was needed.  The insane young man even wrote up a long winded rant about how, if they had bothered to search his place, he would not have been able to move forward.

       So, in short; his family, feeling concerned for his mental health based on documented, easily referenced, online actions, contacted the authorities.  The same authorities we are supposed to trust to protect us, despite supreme court ruling that they are not required to.  (Unfortunately factual ruling, source.).  These authorities did what they always do.  Nothing until someone dies.

       So we all know that making something illegal can't keep anyone from getting it.  So where he got the guns is no mystery.  No one is currently saying if they were attained legally or not, but since legally purchased firearms can be readily traced, I'm guessing they were black market.  (Edit: it has since come to light that his firearms were legally purchased.)  This has not stopped that paragon of unbiased reporting, the Daily News, (Heavy sarcasm), from employing their typical tactic of demanding more gun control, by quoting someone stating exactly what they want to say.  (Source).  Oddly, no one is talking about the housemates he stabbed repeatedly, after writing that he would do it.

       Apparently it is never too early to politicize the deaths of the innocent at the hands of a madman.  So on that note I will do the same.  Since it was asserted that more gun control would fix the problem, despite happening in one of the most restrictive states in the country, (funny how often that happens), I will state: "Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur".  Or in the modern vernacular: "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence".  (Hitchens' Razor).

       Insane persons are already unable to legally purchase firearms.  Logic dictates therefore, that more restrictions would not have fixed this.  To be fair the person they quoted was a grieving father, and probably not at his most logical.  I pass no judgement on him, only the press who trotted him out as an excuse to forward a misguided agenda.

       This is a case where all of the rules were followed, and the authorities failed.  They failed each victim.  They failed their families.  They failed us.  Mostly though, they failed the gun-control agenda.  Had they acted, when they were informed of the problem, this troubled young man would still be alive, and getting help.  As it stands they have proven that lax enforcement, is now as it ever was, the problem.  More laws wont fix laziness.