Just a few days ago, a man named Chris Harper Mercer carried out a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, which resulted in nine people being killed and nine others being wounded. Mercer then killed himself after a shootout with the police.
The motives for Mercer’s actions are yet to be determined. Some people say he had a mental condition, while others claim he was a jihadist. Evidence for the latter theory include ISIS taking credit for the shooting and Mercer being on the Russian Government’s list of terrorists. In fact, such information was given to the Obama Administration, who in turn did nothing. It should also be noted that Mercer singled out Christians during his deadly rampage by means of asking his victims what their religion was.
So it appears that the Obama Administration should have taken action upon learning about Mercer’s jihadist background. But instead it has issued more calls for gun control as it has done in the aftermath of previous mass shootings. It is also likely that the Obama Administration is trying to draw attention from its negligence over the information obtained from the Russian Government.
Despite what the Obama Administration and other people say about mass shootings, gun control is not the answer. In the case of the recent shooting, it appears to be an act of a jihadist, hence a terrorist attack (a lone wolf attack to be precise). In addition, mass shootings are not limited to the United States. They have taken place in other countries, including those with strict gun control laws.
This recent mass shooting reminds me of the film The Deadly Tower, which was based on Charles Whitman, a mentally disturbed student at the University of Texas who in 1966 barricaded himself at the top of the university’s main building and shot forty-eight people (killing seventeen of them).
Soon afterward, the Gun Control Act of 1968 became law. Although it was passed in response in the political assassinations of the 1960s, I would not be surprised if the mass shooting at the University of Texas played a role in its passage. This law practically regulated the firearms industry and those who owned firearms. What is particularly disturbing is that this law was based on gun control legislation from Nazi Germany — the Nazi Weapons Law of 1938 to be exact.
Given Obama’s socialist views, I have no doubt he would try to come up with legislation that would surpass the Nazi Weapons Law.
As I mentioned earlier, gun control is not the answer. I should point out that this mass shooting took place in a gun-free zone, a place that on numerous occasions has become a killing field. Thus, an armed populace, not gun control, is that which deters mass shootings.
Image: Screen snot: http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/02/us/oregon-umpqua-community-college-shooting/
