Anytime someone goes on a rampage, there’s a deep need to try to understand why someone thought that was a good idea.
Part of that need is probably psychological. The horror of what we just saw is too much on its own and we need something we can comprehend to convince ourselves that as evil as that action was, there was still something human driving it. Or something.
Yet that’s not all, by any stretch. We need to understand it for more practical reasons. If we know why, we might be able to figure out how to prevent such a thing in the future.
With the Madison shooting, we’ve heard a lot of things, but the police chief there doesn’t think there will be just one motive.
The motive for a shooting that killed a teacher and a student and wounded others at a Wisconsin school appears to be a “combination of factors,” a police chief said Tuesday as he appealed to the public to share what they might know about the 15-year-old girl who attacked a study hall before shooting herself.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes offered no details about a possible motive, though he said bullying at Abundant Life Christian School would be investigated.
Barnes said police are also investigating writings that may have been penned by Natalie Rupnow and could shed light on her actions.
“Identifying a motive is our top priority, but at this time it appears that the motive is a combination of factors,” the chief told reporters.
Barnes gave the number to a tip line for anyone who might have known the shooter and her feelings.
“There are always signs of a school shooting before it occurred. We’re looking into her online activity,” he said.
There have been reports of varying motives, though none of those have been confirmed at this point. Hopefully, answers will come and we’ll at least learn those answers. For all the talk about not releasing manifestos by killers, I get that and I get the reasons why they might not want to release the specific ramblings of demented individuals.
After all, the alleged CEO killer Luigi Magione was reportedly a big fan of the Unabomber’s manifesto and there’s reason to believe that inspired the actions he’s now been indicted for.
But there’s still that deep need for people to know what someone was thinking. The American public has a right to know, to understand what kind of signals someone might be sending out, and not just based on otherwise benign activity.
For example, some have argued that buying guns is a signal. Yet it’s a constitutionally protected right to buy guns; to keep and bear arms. That’s not a signal and never will be. Yes, bad people may buy guns right before they do something terrible, but millions more good people buy guns.
We need to know things that may be unique to potential mass killers.
I hope Chief Barnes reveals what the motive might be, if he ever learns it, and releases the details of what led up to this horrific act. No, it’s not a mass shooting as most people think of it, but it could easily have been, and that’s why we want to know.
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