Interrupted rant, continued:

In the center of town here, opposite the touristy waterfront in front of a touristy business, stands a big, rather corny statue depicting a topless native man raising his right hand, presumably in greeting. The gesture so obviously resembles the old German National Socialist stiff-arm salute, I've long ridiculed this tacky figure as a "Nazi Indian." At the same time it seemed clear that no aboriginal American would have any reason to affiliate with Nazis. Just a few days ago I happened to catch a program confirming my guess about Hitler's attitude toward the red man: he approved of treating Indians as an inconvenience to the white occupiers, to be cleared out like the Slavs for German Lebensraum. Given this official racism, it's incredible that Blood Lake's alleged perpetrator called himself "native nazi" online and interacted with others of supposed like mind. Apparently he was drawn to an alleged organization of neo-(pseudo?) nazis who welcomed all races, so long as they remained separate. The group's name contains the oxymoronic phrase "Libertarian Socialist," suggesting it doesn't deserve to be taken seriously.

Another thing about this teen killer, which may have received less attention, is that he was evidently getting a mix of psychoactive prescription drugs: easily a possible contributing factor. Perhaps more fundamental was his family background; I've heard a little about that through back channels; whether true or not, it wasn't pretty. Then there's the question of whether anyone else was involved, still under investigation though I'm not aware of actual evidence for that.

So what does the left think of in response to Yet Another School Shooting? That's right, gun control. Well, that dog won't hunt. I don't even need to argue that subject, because it doesn't apply here. Seems Mr. Suspect brought a .22--a handgun of typically low stopping power (compare the round to other calibers some time) but perhaps easily concealed and favored by punks--to his police-sergeant grandfather's home, where he commenced his murder project. More than a month later, we still haven't heard where this pistol came from. But when he got to the school, Nutty Grandson went in armed with his granddad's police weapons.

In conclusion: This case has its own peculiarities, rendering it of little use as a typical object lesson. But I do wish to generalize on this subject, noting that it seems we started seeing these incidents in the 1990s. Why? Firearms weren't just introduced into society. Somewhere I once encountered commentary by a guy who went to high school in the '50s. He noted that students in his marksmanship(?) class brought rifles to school, stowed them in their lockers, and thought little of it. Perhaps homicidal/suicidal teens were less common then; I'll leave readers (if any!) to try figuring it out. Something's changed over the decades, that's for sure.

OK: In the interests of full disclosure, I'll admit that yesterday I picked up my first handgun (all right, first modern handgun, not counting two black-powder derringers), a fancy, expensive edition of the Colt Model 1991, a more recent version of the trusty old 1911. It's so nice, the literature recommends not firing it. Guess I need a cheap .45 for real shootin'. Still, I expect my main weapon will remain my WW-II-vintage, multi-barrelled psychoacoustic device of a type developed in the Caledonian mountains on that big rugged island off the northern coast of western Asia, evidently based on the Romans' tibia utricularis.