I asked my Caucasian, middle-aged husband why the majority of mass shooters are young, white men. His response; “It’s the damn video game violence.”
I asked my African American, female friend why the majority of mass shooters are young, white men. Her response; “It’s the white, hunting culture. You give your boys pellet guns when they are five-years-old like a rite of passage and us black mothers are telling our boys to not pick up a gun for their own safety.”
I asked my young female, psychologist friend why the majority of mass shooters are young, white men. Her response; “It’s a combination of social media leading to depression and isolation which feeds a sick mind very sick ideas.”
I asked my conservative, white, older neighbor why the majority of mass shooters are young, white men. His response; “They aren’t all white. The liberal media is lying to you.”
I asked myself why the majority of mass shooters are young, white men. My response; I don’t know. I really don’t know. Yet there is no denying that when we hear of a mass shooting, we wait for the reporters to flash the shooters face across the screen, which 98% of the time ends up being a young male, in his 20s. They go on to describe him as white, angry, racist, conservative and with a long history of red flags within his community.
This latest mass shooting has led me to reflect upon the “good ole days.” I grew up in the 70s. I was the youngest of three, with two older brothers. The guns in our household were never locked up. My parents kept the shotguns unlocked and unloaded underneath their bed, all while leaving the front and back door unlocked. I never had a house key because the house was never locked. This seemed pretty normal to me. My parents were not afraid and they taught us to be unafraid. We were lucky. We lived in a safe neighborhood in the suburbs. We were taught to respect guns but to not fear them. We only accessed the guns with permission. Did we own pistols? Just one. Did we own high powered military grade weapons? No. We didn’t have the money or desire to own such weapons. Yet we also had no air conditioning, no cable TV, no MTV, no video games and no social media. If we wanted to play video games, we had to drive to a local carry out and put .50 cents in for a few minutes of Pac Man or Donkey Kong. It was a beautiful, simple time. We never feared a school shooting or a mass shooting. We didn’t even know this would come to exist. We had tornado drills not shooting drills. It never crossed our mind that a classmate would walk in and try to wipe us all out. It never crossed our mind that a trip to the grocery store might end in a flash. It never crossed our mind that going to a local tavern on a Saturday night could result in us being shot dead in the street.
Could the simplicity of the 70s be a clue to what has changed in America leading up to the shootings? We don’t know what is creating mass shooters but we do know that shootings in the 70s were almost unheard of. Guns existed then. But what didn’t yet exist? Think about it. We can all draw our own conclusions.
On August 4, 2019 at approximately 1:07 AM, a 24-year-old white, middle class man named Connor Betts, of Bellbrook, Ohio, shot and killed 9 people and injured 27 others in our hometown of Dayton, Ohio, making this the 250th mass shooting this year in America. These are staggering numbers. 250 times this year people have gathered together in peace and friendship only to be gunned down by a madman.
As a country we need to do some deep, deep soul searching and come together to answer two pressing questions; what cultural crisis has created this level of violence? But most importantly, what cultural crisis has BLINDED US to the reality that the most dangerous boy in the room looks an awful lot like your son and my son and not the African American, Mexican or Middle Eastern kid you fear so much.
Who is the most dangerous boy in the room? It all depends on who you ask but statistics don’t lie America and I hate stats just as much as you do.
May God bless my hometown of Dayton, Ohio and may God bless all 9 beautiful souls who went out last night and never made it home.
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By, Teresa McIntosh-Hall
Teresa McIntosh-Hall is a writer, blogger, social worker and political activist who is praying for Dayton but hoping for real change.
Much good for thought. I was raised in the 40’s and 50’s. Biggest worry was what you were going to do after high school.