Being outside of the USA means that the news cycle with respect to mass shootings tends to be quite a bit slower than it is Stateside, so I saw the news about the two deadly shootings in El Paso and Dayton rather a bit later than most of my readers did.

Nonetheless, it is instructive to take a look at what PJW had to say about the massacres:

There are several important points to note and understand about the shootings.

First, the (((media))) and the Daemoncrats have, of course, inevitably tried to tar the God-Emperor with the usual white supremacist nonsense because one of the two shooters expressed anti-immigrant sentiments. This is absolutely absurd, but it is unfortunately highly effective rhetoric – or at least, it would be against any of the usual Republicuck crowd.

His Most Legendary Astral Majesty, the God-Emperor of Mankind, Donaldus Triumphus Magnus, is most assuredly NOT a regular Republican. He knows how to fight dirty, and he does it with relish. That is why all previous attempts to smear him as a white nationalist failed miserably, and why this one will also.

Second, in all such situations, the facts of the case do not matter. The reality is that mass shootings are rare things in the USA. As John Hinderaker pointed out in a very good article over at Power Line just after President Trump’s speech:

[T]he president expressed determination to do something about mass shootings. He said that on this issue, as elsewhere, America will “win.” It is easy to be skeptical about this promise; as I wrote in May, the United States does not have an unusual number of mass shootings on a per capita basis. We rank 56th in the world in that regard, far behind countries like Norway, Switzerland, Finland and Russia. Mass murders are so rare that it is easy to be cynical about our ability to do much about them, even though we have cut the overall homicide rate in half. Still, it was bracing to hear the president express confidence that the problem can successfully be addressed.

Third, and most importantly, any new laws proposed to stop these mass shooters are going to FAIL.

The notion being bandied about by the God-Emperor concerns so-called “red flag” laws. The same Power Line article describes these at a basic level:

Trump did not take the easy way out by endorsing more useless gun control measures. Rather, he came out in favor of the one thing that actually might make a difference: so-called “red flag” laws. Such legislation has, I believe, been enacted in a few states and introduced in others. The basic idea is that if you think someone is mentally ill and dangerous and therefore should not possess firearms, you can go to court on an expedited basis, potentially without notice to the “dangerous” person, and obtain an order that 1) bars that person from possessing firearms, and 2) directs police officers to go to his residence and confiscate any firearms they find there.

It is easy to imagine circumstances in which a procedure of this sort might actually work. Mass shooters are pretty much all as nutty as fruitcakes. In most cases, it is obvious to everyone who encounters them that they are crazy and might be dangerous. Sometimes (like the Parkland murderer) they advertise their intent to commit mass murder on social media. So in some cases, a “red flag” process might actually work.

On the other hand, the potential for abuse is equally obvious. How many ex-wives would take advantage of the opportunity to turn in their ex-husbands as potentially dangerous? How can an allegedly deranged person receive due process sufficient to prevent gross miscarriage of justice? And what are the consequences of sending police officers to someone’s home to confiscate his firearms, perhaps in circumstances where he has no notice of what is going on? The sometimes-disastrous history of the no-knock raid comes to mind.

Let’s be very clear about this: America does not have a mass shooting problem. America has a severe mental health problem and an even more severe father shortage problem.

If you look at the psychological profiles and backgrounds of American mass shooters, they are overwhelmingly young, frustrated men who lacked significant figures of masculine authority in their lives. The outliers are precisely that – very strange statistical outliers, such as the Las Vegas shootings from a few years back. Nothing about that case makes the slightest lick of sense.

And almost all of them have mental health problems of one kind or another – whether they were incels desperate for sex and companionship and lashing out at women as a result, such as Elliot Rodger, or simply starved for attention and needing validation.

The best way to deal with mass shootings is not new legislation. Republicucks who back such legislation deserve to be thrown out of office and then tarred and feathered – and I definitely include the God-Emperor in that statement. That is the surest and stupidest way to enrage the heartland base, who want nothing to do with gun control measures and believe absolutely that the Second Amendment means exactly what it says.

The God-Emperor would be far better off by pointing out that most mass shootings take place in gun-free zones. Now, it is not clear at this point whether the shooting at the El Paso Walmart took place in a gun-free zone, especially given the rather enlightened and lenient views that the great state of Texas maintains with respect to open and concealed carry of lawful firearms. And it is equally unclear whether the shooting in Ohio took place in a gun-free zone as well. But, in general, gun-free zones are soft targets and easy pickings for would-be mass murderers intent on making a statement and getting attention.

The major culprit here is not America’s gun laws. Once you strip out the most violent American cities – universally Daemoncrat-controlled, usually for generations – then America’s gun-related homicide rate drops the country so far down the league tables of murders and violent crimes that it makes Greenland look like the Thunderdome by comparison.

The problem is not guns. The problem is not the Second Amendment, which as far as I am concerned is sacred writ. The problem is not American gun culture.

The problem is a culture in general that glorifies violence and showers attention upon people who commit terrible atrocities. The problem is the mass media, not mass shooters.

If Americans want to legislate something out of existence… they could jolly well start by banning ABCNNBCBS and the cabal of Bolsheviks who run them all.