What the Future Holds: Even More Mass Shootings
by John Lawrence
The US is the only nation that has embedded the seeds of its own destruction in its Constitution. What we can expect is an accelerating rate of mass shootings unless assault rifles are gotten off the streets which is something Republicans have refused to do. So now there are only 3 or 4 mass shootings a day. Pretty soon there will be so many that they will crowd out all other news on the news channels. They will need multiple split screens showing mass shootings in multiple areas. The mass shooting response industry will become big business. There will need to be more law enforcement, more investigators, more prosecutors, more pundits wondering about the motives of the shooter. This is what we should expect: increased numbers of mass shootings. Six months into 2022, there have been at least 309 mass shootings in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Shooting incidents in 2022 are rivaling last year’s record-breaking numbers. Right now there are almost two mass shootings a day. By the end of the year we can expect three or four a day. The only effective thing that could change this trajectory would be to outlaw assault weapons and get them off the streets, but there is little likelihood that this will be done so we can expect more of the same.
So now that mass shooting has become almost an industry, we can expect to see mass shooters vying to set records, vying to be the one with the record of the most victims. So the planning in their minds will consist of trying to kill a number of victims at least in the double digits. Less than that number of deaths will be seen in their own minds as a failure. The Las Vegas killer took out 60 people and wounded over 400. These are the numbers that future mass killers will be shooting for. They not only want to join the club of mass murderers, they want to do so in a leadership position. Unfortunately, the gun industry and Republican politicians are enablers. The courts that have interpreted the Second Amendment to mean anything goes as far as gun purchases are concerned are the enablers of mass murder. Other countries have outlawed assault rifles as soon as one mass murder occurred. Less than one month after a gunman killed 50 people in an attack on two mosques in Christchurch, the New Zealand Parliament voted to ban most semi-automatic and military-style weapons. Ditto for Australia. The US, however, will go down fighting to preserve the rights of mass murderers.
It's unthinkable in the US that assault rifles could be outlawed. Witness the current toothless "gun safety" law that was just passed by Congress. It will do nothing to prevent mass murder to accelerate since it does nothing to get guns off the street. The confiscation of guns is the only thing that will put a stop to the continuation of these events, and they will only get more horrible as time goes on. This is what America has to look forward to. This is America's dystopian future. American culture supports and encourages mass murder. Video games consist almost entirely of people committing mass murders. American movies almost always feature guns and murder. The current shooter was listening to rap lyrics. The situation favors mass killers. They can choose the time and place. They can choose any gathering of people be it a religious congregation, a parade, a grocery store or a school. The police are helpless. Mass killers use the tactic of surprise to their advantage the same way the Japanese used the tactic of surprise to bomb Pearl Harbor. The advantage is always on the side of the mass killer who uses the military tactic of surprise. So while those in power twiddles their thumbs over gun violence and are paid off by the gun industry, America will continue to be terrorized by its own people. Geez, Usama bin Laden must be laughing in his watery grave.
