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Promoted from the diaries by streiff. Promotion does not imply endorsement.

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FILE – This Oct. 3, 2013 file photo shows a custom-made semi-automatic hunting rifle with a high-capacity detachable magazine is displayed at a gun store in Rockin, Calif. California voters are considering expanding some of the nation’s toughest gun control measures nearly a year after the terrorist shootings in San Bernardino. Proposition 63 on the November ballot would outlaw possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines, require permits to buy ammunition and extend California’s unique program that allows authorities to seize firearms from owners who bought guns legally but are no longer allowed to own them. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

In the aftermath of the horrific mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio the radical liberal left and unprincipled weak-kneed Republicans in Name Only have gravitated to the same virtue signaling place, trying to take guns away from law abiding Americans.

On the Left virtually all of the 2020 Democrat Presidential candidates have come out in the days after both shootings saying the same things as the answer to the deaths of 31 people and injuring of scores more; universal background checks, limits on magazine ammo capacity, a gun buy back program, and a return of the “assault weapon” ban of 1994. These are virtually the same policy remedies that they have been clamoring for since the Colombine massacre 20 years ago. There are even some liberal talking heads, academics, and the like calling for the outright repeal of the 2nd amendment.

On the other side of the political isle we have Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger who, as Mike Ford pointed out earlier, is joining the gun grabbing chorus by writing about his desire to join with the Left and expand background checks, limit magazine capacity, and in a totally unconstitutional move prohibit people under the age of 21 from owning a firearm. This is something Ford correctly points out would have had zero impact on the El Paso and Dayton shooters as they were 21 and 24 years old respectively.

*It should be noted that Rep. Kinzinger is the definition of a RiNO(Republican in Name Only) as he has voted with Nancy Pelosi to save the crony capitalism of the Export-Import Bank, staunchly supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, was Jeb Bush’s biggest cheerleader in the 2016 primaries, and has been one of President Trump’s biggest and loudest critics ever since. He has also spent nearly 10 years now attacking Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, the House Freedom Caucus, conservative talk radio, and conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation at every chance he can.

The problem with these liberal and RINO policy prescriptions in response to Dayton and El Paso is that they would not have done anything to have stopped these mass murderers.

For instance there is nothing expanded “universal” background checks would have done about either shooter, considering both passed background checks prior to going on their murderous rampages.

Where background checks are concerned what would have helped, at least in the case of the Dayton shooter, is if federal background check databases contained information about the giant red flag of his having created both a rape list and a hit list while he was a high schooler. That information wasn’t available to those doing his background check. If it was, it should have been a disqualification to him purchasing a firearm of any kind, or at the very least warranted further scrutiny and delayed such purchase until a more detailed exam of him and his background could be completed.

The federal background check system is only as good as the information it has to work off of. As we saw with the Sutherland Springs, Texas Church shooter the system can only work as intended if the appropriate information is made available to it. In that case that mass murderer was able to acquire his weapon(s) because the background check he underwent totally missed his military criminal record. This is an oversight that President Trump has rightly tried to correct in the years since.

When it comes to fixing the background check system following these latest incidents then making sure things like hit lists and rape list created by teens have to become permeant parts of their record that can and should be easily accessible to law enforcement even years later.

While limiting a persons ability to have more than 10 rounds of ammunition per magazine and/or banning their ability to own a semi-automatic rifle may make liberals feel better about themselves they will not do anything to deter people committed to causing mass casualties from committing their evil acts. The Oklahoma City bomber committed the horrors of that day using a truck, fertilizer, and fuel. Unsophisticated terrorist from New York City to Europe have killed dozens and wounded hundreds simply by driving into them with a large vehicle. The infamous Son of Sam serial killer terrorized New York City using a revolver. One of the worst mass murders to happen in American history, Bath township, Michigan involved the use of dynamite as the murder weapon.

Simply put when a person has committed themselves to committing murder on a large scale they will use whatever tool is at their disposal to commit their evil acts.

The solution to stopping those determined to inflict harm on as many people as possible isn’t to take away the 2nd amendment rights of law abiding citizens, it isn’t to make them more vulnerable to all types of criminals, it is to identify those displaying the behavior of a mass murderer or assassin and to get them the help they need.

Giving law enforcement the ability to monitor all manners of online forums, including but not limited to 8chan where the El Paso shooter hung out, so they can spot potentially dangerous people early will be infinitely more productive at stopping the carnage than any gun control ever could. It would also be well advised if Tech companies including but not limited to Twitter, Facebook, and Google, undertook a similar effort to actively find and identify people expressing violence, making threats to harm anyone, and otherwise displayed traits online that match-up with what FBI and Secret Service profilers have found to be common traits among mass murderers and then coordinating with law enforcement to be proactive in dealing with these individuals before they can harm others. And just to be clear I am stating that Big Tech should be looking at people expressing violent thoughts, explicit interest in harming people, and other behaviors consistent with those FBI/SS profiles of mass killers not for anyone and everyone who has a thought or opinion contrary to liberal orthodoxy; being a vocal Trump supporter does not make you a White Nationalist like the El Paso shooter by default and therefore the next potential killer as the liberal media has spent days trying to infer.

People should read The Anatomy of Motive by former FBI profiler John Douglas, along with some of his other books, to get a glimpse into the mindset of people who would commit the kinds of atrocities like has occurred in El Paso and Dayton and read about the kinds of personality traits inherent to mass murderers so they can be identified before they make the national news.

Additionally all the money the likes of Sen. Kamala Harris has fundraised off of these shootings would be far more effective if directed towards mental health. As an example in my rural corner of Illinois there are 15 hospitals along the I-80 corridor to the Wisconsin and Iowa borders and West of Chicagoland, only 4 of them have doctors on staff to help people with mental illness. For an area that covers nearly all of two congressional districts that is woefully inadequate.

As President Trump has been saying in the aftermath of these shootings mental illness plays a significant role in why many of histories most notorious mass murderers committed the acts they did and is likely going to be a big reason why both the El Paso and Dayton shooters acted in such horrific ways.

It is a sad statement that instead of taking concrete steps that would actually address things that would stop these evil people, politicians, the media, and others would rather virtue signal with measures that would be ineffective or down right unconstitutional because that virtue signaling is more important and would get them more votes than even directing one dollar more towards mental health.