Elliot Rodger was similar to other spree killers

By now, most are familiar with the story of Elliot Rodger, the Santa Barbara mass murderer who killed six people last weekend before turning his gun on himself. Rodger’s loneliness, angst and longing for meaningless sex are now well known. What may be less well known is that Rodger shared many characteristics with a number of other recent spree killers.

 

As Examiner reported last year, a number of features are common in the random mass killings that seem prevalent in recent years. First, almost all of the mass killers are known to be habitual players of violent video games. Second, the killer often comes from a broken family. Finally, in most cases, the killer can be reasonably determined to have undiagnosed or untreated mental illness.  Elliot Rodger fits into all three categories.

 

Read the full story on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Mass killings are more common where gun control is strict

Aaron Alexis

When Aaron Alexis used several guns to commit mass murder at the Washington, D.C. Navy yard yesterday, it was only the most recent in a string of mass shootings in areas where strict gun control is in force. In fact, statistics from past rampage killings show that mass shootings and killings are more likely to take place in states with rigorous gun laws.

The Citizens Crime Commission of New York City lists 27 mass shootings (defined by the FBI as four or more victims killed) in the United States from 1984 through August 2012. When geographical location is considered, the majority of these shootings took place in states with strict gun control laws. Two of the states with the most restrictive gun control laws, Wisconsin and Illinois, were both the site of mass shootings. Two mass shootings occurred in Wisconsin. Four mass shootings took place in California, despite its gun control initiatives. Connecticut was the site of two previous mass killings before last year’s Newtown massacre, even though the state’s gun laws are considered some of the toughest in the nation according to a Washington Post article that cites studies by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and Brown University.

Likewise, the District of Columbia’s gun laws are also tough. For years, the District had an outright ban of private weapons until it was struck down in the Supreme Court’s landmark Heller decision. Crime rates began to drop after the ban was ruled unconstitutional according to the Wall Street Journal. Because the District is not a state, it does not rank on the Brady Campaign’s list of state gun control laws, but “Guns and Ammo” magazine ranked it dead last among the “Best States for Gun Owners for 2013.”

 

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Navy Yard killer shared traits with other rampage murderers

Aaron Alexis

Already there are voices calling for increased gun control in the wake of Aaron Alexis’ murders of 12 people in the Washington Navy Yard yesterday. As Examiner reported, traditional gun control seems to be counterproductive in reducing crimes and mass killings, but an analysis of this and other shootings reveals several common threads between many perpetrators of rampage killings. Diagnoses are made more difficult by the fact that the killers in many of the rampages are often killed themselves, but in many cases, the killer had been diagnosed with some form of mental illness or can plausibly be considered to have an undiagnosed mental illness. Other factors, such as video games, movies, or broken families are also common.

Aaron Alexis is reported to have been undergoing treatment for mental illness with the Veterans Administration according to the Washington Times. The report indicates that Alexis had reported hearing voices in his head and suffered from paranoia. NBC Newsreports that Alexis had two prior arrests for gun related crimes. In 2004, he allegedly shot out the tires of another man’s car during “an anger-fueled ‘blackout’” in Seattle. In 2010, he was arrested in Texas for shooting his gun through the ceiling of his apartment. The bullet went through his ceiling into the apartment upstairs. Alexis told police that the shooting was accidental. According to Seattle police, Alexis was present at the September 11 attacks and was an “active participant in rescue attempts” [at the World Trade Center according to the Telegraph] and may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

 

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Atlanta shooter had record of mental illness and crime

DeKalb Sheriff

The 20-year-old man who walked into a Decatur elementary school yesterday had a history of mental illness and a criminal record according to his brother. Michael Brandon Hill was arrested after he fired several shots at police and briefly held several employees hostage at the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Center.

Timothy Hill, brother of the alleged shooter, told WSB TV (view parts one and two of the interview) that Michael Hill had a long history of mental illness. According to his brother, Hill was placed on Adderall, a drug commonly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), at the age of six. He had a history of behavioral problems in school starting at age 13.

Read the rest on  Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Who killed Trayvon Martin? An honest discussion on race and crime

Trayvon Martin (Wagist.com)

Earlier this week on July 16, Attorney General Eric Holder addressed the NAACP convention in Orlando in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict.  In the speech, Holder said that the “tragedy provides yet another opportunity for our nation to speak honestly – and openly – about the complicated and emotionally-charged issues that this case has raised.”  In truth, the national conversation about the killing of Trayvon Martin has been anything but honest.

 

George Zimmerman admits that he shot and killed Trayvon Martin.  Even though Zimmerman pulled the trigger to fire the shot that ultimately killed Martin, he was not the only cause of Martin’s death.  There seems to be plenty of blame to go around.

Read the rest on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

The system worked for George Zimmerman

VOA/Wikimedia

Although many Americans are upset about the not guilty verdict handed down by the jury for George Zimmerman, the case is actually proof that the judicial system still works and is not controlled by politicians and interest groups.  George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black man, on February 26, 2012.  Although the circumstances of the killing were uncertain, many in the media rushed to judgment and fanned the flames of race almost immediately.

 

Media reports immediately claimed that Zimmerman was a racist who shot Martin because he was a black man who was walking in Zimmerman’s neighborhood.  As Examiner reported at the time, Zimmerman’s neighborhood was racially mixed and had suffered a large number of burglaries in the months leading up to the shooting.  Martin was staying at his father’s girlfriend’s house, which was in the same gated community where Zimmerman lived.  Logically, Zimmerman would not have been shocked to see a black man in his neighborhood.

 

Read the rest on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

 

 

 

Tale of two robberies shows why gun control is bad

Security camera still of the robbery at Junior’s (VRPD/Examiner – Kemitha Lewis)

Citizens of the small Georgia town of Villa Rica got a lesson in gun control last week.  On two consecutive days last week, armed robbers attacked local businesses in the normally quiet suburb of Atlanta.  In each incident, a man was killed by a gun.  Ostensibly both were victims of “gun violence,” but for circumstances were very different.  After a weeklong manhunt, the final suspect was arrested this morning in Atlanta.

 

According to the Villa Rican, the first incident occurred on Tuesday, June 25, when a 19-year-old man wearing a hoodie and ski mask entered Junior’s Food Store, a local convenience store and gas station, around 9:45 p.m.  The man, Durante Octavious Ashley, 19, was a part-time employee of the store, but that night he pulled a gun on the clerk who was on duty and demanded money.  The clerk opened the cash register and, when Ashley turned his attention to the money inside, pulled his own gun and shot the robber, killing him.

Read the rest on Atlanta Conservative Examiner

Third of Americans believed armed revolution may be necessary

A new poll released May 1 shows that nearly one third of Americans (29 percent) believe that armed revolution to protect civil liberties might be necessary within the next few years.  The poll, by Fairleigh Dickinson University, found that almost half of Republicans (44 percent) believe that armed revolution may be necessary, only marginally higher than independents (27 percent).  Only 18 percent of Democrats believe that armed revolution may be necessary.

Read the rest on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/twenty-nine-percent-believe-armed-revolution-likely-america

Tsarnaevs are only tip of homegrown Islamic terror iceberg

The Tsarnaev brothers

The Tsarnaev brothers’ brief reign of terror has shed light on a growing threat to the safety of Americans: homegrown Islamic terrorists. While the brothers were originally from Chechnya, their family had been in the U.S. for almost a decade according to theN.Y. Times. The brothers, age 15 and 8 at the time, were already Muslim but were almost certainly radicalized long after they became American immigrants.

Homegrown radicals are people who were either born in the United States or who immigrated here prior to becoming terrorists. In many cases, homegrown Islamic radicals become radicalized in isolation. Rather than attending mosques, they listen to and read sermons of radical mullahs on the internet. Many homegrown radicals were converted to radical Islam by the sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric who was born in the U.S. He later fled to Yemen where he was killed in 2011 by a drone strike. Some homegrown radicals were born into Muslim families; others converted to Islam later in life.

Read the rest on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/article/boston-bombing-exposes-threat-of-homegrown-radical-islam

GOP filibuster failure may haunt Dems

DOD/Public Domain

Thursday the Senate voted to open debate on a Democratic bill to expand gun control laws. Democrats overcame a filibuster attempt by Republicans that would have prevented the Senate from considering the bill.

The “Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013” (S.649) is sponsored by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The vote for cloture on the motion to proceed passed 68-31 with 16 Republicans joining 50 Democrats and the Senate’s two independents. Georgia’s two senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson joined the Republicans voting for cloture.

 

Read the rest on Examiner:

http://www.examiner.com/article/gop-gun-control-filibuster-failure-may-hurt-senate-democrats?fb_action_ids=10151426698854790&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210151426698854790%22%3A438910599527791%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210151426698854790%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D