Get the Facts
Your narrator appeared this morning with the gang on Fox and Friends — folks who manage to still be informed and gracious at 6:30 a.m. (unlike me) — to discuss yet another mass-shooting event. My sincere thanks to Ainsley, Brian, Peter, and their whole team.
On-air, I made the point that there are too many outstanding questions yet to form a good opinion of what triggered this — the investigation is ongoing.
So then — what’s The Gist at this point?
The Gist:
We are having the wrong conversation on gun issues. As people rail against “assault weapons,” bear in mind:
According to The Pew Research Center, for the last year they have the stats (2020), 3% of gun murders involved “assault weapons.” The rest were either handguns or undetermined.
You read that right. 3%.
As per the FBI, there were 103 deaths from “active shooters” in 2021 (again, the most recent data they have). Same year, there were 20,958 gun murders.
20,958. Compared to 103. Slightly larger, no?
The point is, we are not having an honest conversation. People may bring bullhorns into Nashville’s legislature, but they are not addressing the problem. That’s theater, not policy.
The activity in Louisville yesterday is something of a metaphor. The bank killings were terrible, of course. But the other (simultaneous) fatal incident by the school — likely using a handgun — gets no attention and no calls for better enforcement.
And that’s the real problem.
2. The number of shootings involving young people in the US went up 50% during Covid. Was this a factor? Who knows. We don’t know enough yet about Connor Sturgeon’s life. But undeniably, our young people were damaged by the lockdowns. Mentally, emotionally, educationally.
This is a problem that may not have fully manifested yet.
3. There will be louder and louder calls for the police to release all the information they have. This is still an active investigation and Louisville PD and the federal agencies will be combing through Sturgeon’s life to ascertain what triggered this, to ensure he acted alone, etc. His digital footprint will be of particular interest, and that takes time. Until all this is run down, it makes no sense to risk compromising the investigation.
But that said: after a few days, the police should put out what they have. The public should know.
So, to that point: Where is the Nashville shooter’s manifesto?
4. I doubt football was to blame. We’ll soon begin hearing that Connor Sturgeon’s concussions led to this. But his concussions were from playing high school football. Sturgeon was 25. Is there a history of apparent brain damage? With a guy who graduated with a bachelor’s and a master’s simultaneously?
Not buying it.
5. The police here showed true courage. The cops who stopped this were not the SWAT-type cops we see in movies and such. These were local patrol cops who were almost certainly heavily outgunned, and knew that fast as they ran towards the scene — within 3 minutes.
That’s true courage. That’s World War I, out-of-the-trench-and-charge courage. And despite what people read and hear in our mainstream media, this is far more the norm than the exception.
Officer Nickolas Wilt — the cop fighting for his life now — was only on the job for a few days. His starting salary was $44k. Yet he ran toward this. We should remember that when we talk “defund.”
We hope and pray for Officer Wilt’s recovery. And all the victims of yet another senseless, selfish lashing-out by a narcissistic coward who felt that killing others was the way to draw attention to his own dissatisfactions.
Trump v Bragg: As your narrator has imparted on-air and in this space, this case is much-ado-about-nothing. There is the fact that, if Trump’s team genuinely pursues it, it will almost certainly get dismissed on a whole host of grounds.
But there’s also this: in the majority of cases, the charges Trump faces are pled out to… Disorderly Conduct. “Discon,” as the NY cops call it.
Legally, Discon is a “violation.” That is: the equivalent of a traffic summons.
So in essence: Donald Trump just got a speeding ticket.
Alvin Bragg — cleaning up New York!
(And for a great breakout of how off-base Bragg is on any claims of actually doing his job, click here (I would embed the tweet, but Musk seems to have done something to his code. C’mon, Elon. WTF? I’d expect this from Dorsey, not you).
Conservatarian Dept: Folks, let me solve the trans thing for you.
First: If you are an adult and you want to dress as the opposite gender… have fun. It is not my place to attempt to deny you that right, in any way (but that said, dear: those pumps are so last year..!).
Second: If you are an adult and you decide to body-modify, that is also your choice. Frankly (and speaking as everybody’s punching bag, a cisgender male): if you are willing to, erm, subtract from your body’s appendages… you must be all-in.
But the limiting principle is easy: NO KIDS INVOLVED.
PERIOD.
Even if you are the Dalai Lama.
https://twitter.com/2MASX/status/1645288399706652673?s=20
See you tomorrow night, gang, on-air with the great Jimmy Failla. Until then… be safe.
Thanks for reading The Ops Desk!