When Cops stop, harass, and arrest black people at a rate that is 2-3 greater than their tendency to violate the law, then go on to shoot or choke black people to death at a rate that is 7 times greater than other groups we're regularly told it's because of the high rate of black crime. We're told that police are just "following the statistics" and putting their attention where the problem is the most severe.
Rarely do people pay that much attention to this particular statistic when mass shooting/spree killings are involved.
This is what Mother Jones noted in 2013 following the
Washington Navy Yard Shooting.
A look at the data compiled by Mother Jones on mass shootings shows that 16 percent of the 67 mass shootings that have occurred since 1982 were committed by black shooters, including the alleged Navy Yard shooter, while 66 percent were committed by whites. Monday's shooting, and all the others that have occurred in the last 30 years, does tell a story—about guns and safety and violence in the US. But if you're looking at Aaron Alexis' skin color, you're missing the point.
As I've repeatedly noted, most people who claim "Black people commit more crime" are looking only at one FBI Chart,
which only covers Single Victim and Single Offender Murders. That chart
would not include the shooting committed by Dylan Roof in South Carolina or the one occurred just this week in a Lafayette Louisiana movie theater. So whose really doing more of what when you include all of the
mass killings or
serial killings, the vast majority of whom are committed by White Men?
Continued over the flip.
More data from Mother Jones.
The killers: More than half of the cases involved school or workplace shootings (12 and 20, respectively); the other 30 cases took place in locations including shopping malls, restaurants, and religious and government buildings. Forty four of the killers were white males. Only one of them was a woman. (See Goleta, Calif., in 2006.) The average age of the killers was 35, though the youngest among them was a mere 11 years old. (See Jonesboro, Ark., in 1998.) A majority were mentally troubled—and many displayed signs of it before setting out to kill.
Clearly mass and spree killings are far from the most common, they only represent a tiny sliver of the overall killings that occur. But they do happen to be the cases that repeatedly capture our national attention, and trigger our greatest level of outrage.
No, spree killings aren't the most common, but then neither is the oft mention "gang violence" - instead the most common killings are murder/suicides between family members or intimate partners as I've previous written involving gun deaths.
http://www.fbi.gov/... (Note: Gun Suicides which out pace Gun Murders by 2:1 not included)
Total Homicides using Firearms 8,583
including Handguns 6,220. Rifles 323 Shotguns 356 Other Guns 1,684.
Felony Type: 1,271.
Including Robbery 553, Other Not Specific 324, Narcotics 318.
Non Felony 3,684.
Including Other Arguments 1,844, Other Not Specific 925, Juvenile Gang Killings 476, Gang Killings 143. Arguments over money or property 104.
As shown most gun killings besides suicides are non-felonies (3,684) and not related to otherwise criminal behavior (robbery [553], or other felonies such as rape [324], etc). A rather large number are arguments (1,844) which again far outdistances the number of adult [143] and juvenile [476] gang killings by gun.
PDF from the Violence Policy Center on Murder-Suicides
Medical studies estimate that between 1,000 and 1,500 deaths per year in the United States are the result of murder-suicide.3 This VPC analysis reveals that, in the first half of 2005, there were 591 murder-suicide deaths, of which 264 were suicides and 327 were homicides. Using these figures, more than 10 murder-suicide events occur in the United States each week. Of the 264 suicides, 248 were male and 16 were female. Of the 327 homicides, 255 victims were female and 72 victims were male. Included in the homicide victims were 47 children and teens less than 18 years of age. By doubling the total number of fatalities during the six-month period for a yearly estimate, there were an estimated 1,182 murder-suicide deaths in 2005.
...
The most common type of murder-suicide was between two intimate partners, with the man killing his wife or girlfriend because of a breakdown in their relationship.
In this study, 74 percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner. Of these, 96 percent were females killed by their intimate partners. In comparison, in 2003—the most recent data available—for all murders (where the relationship could be determined) 17 percent of murder victims were killed by an intimate partner.10 Of these, 78 percent were females killed by their intimate partners.11
This type of murder-suicide typically involves a man between the ages of 18 and 60 years old who develops suspicions of his girlfriend’s or wife’s infidelity, becomes enraged, murders her, and then commits suicide—usually using a firearm.12
Often, he will also kill the children of himself and the intimate partner.
If we can respond to gang violence with special gang task forces even when the number of those killed via gangs is
only a fraction of those killed as a result of domestic violence, perhaps we should consider changing our tactics and strategies.
Anyway getting back to spree killings, which in this case was still a murder/suicide, based on what we know so far John Russell Houser was nothing like Aaron Alexis as documented by Raw Story.
His Facebook account shows just two likes — the “I hate liberals!” political organization, which uses an avatar that reads “Stand with Rand,” and the Crossroads Irish-American Festival.
...
Houser signed up for an account with Tea Party Nation in June 2013, but he was not an active commenter.
...
Houser was evicted last year from a rental property on 32nd Street, where his estranged wife owns a home that can be seen flying a Confederate flag on a Google maps search. It’s not clear whether he lived at the home when the photo was taken.
...
Posts on other forums reveal Houser’s belief that the U.S. was racist against white people, sterilization should be mandatory for welfare recipients and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke was a more historically significant figure than the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Hitler accomplished far more than any other through ‘pragmatically forming,'” Houser posted in January 2015.
Rawstory also noted that Houser had been turned down for a concealed carry permit in 2006 due to a previous arrest for arson (charges were ultimately dismissed). And that his wife and other family members had filed a restraining order against him in 2008 and removed all guns from their home because of his "
history of mental health issues, i.e., manic depression and/or bi-polar disorder.”
How much of this was part of Houser's actual motive for the shooting remains to be seen, but just as we heard so quickly about Michael Brown being a robbery suspect, and that Sandra Bland had a history of depression and suicide, showed signs of being a "cutter", and that Dejarria Becton was "No Angel" because she talked back to Corporal Casebolt in McKinney Texas, it's seems only fair that we also go through James Houser's life with an electron microscope.
But I will say this: As the President laments that his greatest frustration has been that he's been unable so far to move forward with any gun safety legislation what-so-ever, perhaps if Louisiana had the same Weapons Restraining Order Law that recently passed in California after the spree killing of Elliot Rodger in Isla Vista police would have had the muscle to ensure that a person like Houser with a documented history of mental health issues could not possess a weapon.
Perhaps we might have better results if rather than focusing on people because they fit a convenient target demographic, perhaps police should be focusing on individuals whose own specific actions warrant that attention?
I, for one, think more laws like that one across the nation would help both with domestic violence murders and with potential spree who've shown signs of mental disturbance.
Vyan
12:53 PM PT: And wait it gets worse
The gunman who killed two women and wounded nine other moviegoers in Louisiana had a long history of anger and violence toward women.
...
“Whatever he wanted to talk about, it would generate calls,” said Calvin Floyd, who hosted WLTZ-TV’s “Rise & Shine” program. “He was anti-abortion. The best I can recall, Rusty had an issue with feminine rights. He was opposed to women having a say in anything. You could talk with him a few minutes, and you would know he had a high IQ but there was a lot missing with him.”
Floyd said he was not surprised when Houser, who argued against women in the workplace and advocated violence against abortion providers, was identified as the gunman.
“The association I had with him was for entertainment,” Floyd said. “He was very entertaining. He made for good TV and when it was over, you would leave shaking your head.”
...
He described Houser, who posted an article on Facebook about limiting women’s participation in church, as an angry and radical person.
“He was on from time to time because he was a very radical person with radical views,” Floyd said. “He was a Republican and then I would have someone with a real strong Democrat view on.
Although this isn't conclusive, It's not really a stretch to suggest that a guy with these types of views specifically targeted the audience of a film like "Trainwreck" which has a decidedly feminist and liberal bent - and that the two victims who died were women.
1:09 PM PT: Watching CNN go on and on and on asking "What was his Twisted Motive for doing this...?" ..."it's a random act of violence"... "Normal people don't do this".. and they have yet to put together the Feminist Hater at a Feminist Movie thing yet.
Seems kinda obvious to me.
1:13 PM PT: Oh finally, CNN is getting to the content of his posts admiring Hitler, displaying a swastika etc, but their still talking more about his "mental health" issues. Funny though a lot of what he displays as "crazy" thinking sounds pretty such like the average Alex Jones broadcast.
1:15 PM PT: His neighbor says he flew the Gadsen Flag, and CNN is still going "Did he have any association with any radical political groups?" Uh, well, duh! Who else flies both the Gadsen Flag and the Confederate Flag all the time?
1:32 PM PT: CNN is now insinuating that this is about lack of security in movies in general, saying there was violence when Boyz In the Hood premiered 20 years ago and nothing been done about it.
And again their going "What would cause someone to do this, was it mental health issues?" Perhaps it was, but perhaps it was more than that as well.
2:12 PM PT: Conservative are making the ridiculous claim that Houser was a "Obama Supporter" - haha haa..
Because he wrote this...
“Here is something that is truly funny: since I accepted this it came to me that the president is doing exactly what Tim McVeigh did,only the president is much more effective,” he wrote. “The way I see it,the faster he wrecks this nation, which in no way resembles what it’s founders envisioned,the faster working people with morals may re-assume command.ie I was for his re-election. I like his spending habits.etc”
He's saying Obama is a bigger danger to the nation than the guy who implemented the worst act of Domestic Terrorism ever. That's supposed to be "Support?" Hardly.
