Mass Shooter Apologetics

I have to admit that I was not surprised to learn that West Virginia Governor Jim Justice blamed recent mass shootings on pornography and violent video games. This is because, although we are not allowed to blame either the person and occasionally nor the weapon they used, it seems like we are allowed to blame everything else for this recent shooting. Considering people bought the notion that Robert Long killed six people in an Asian massage parlor under the assumption they were prostitutes because of his sex addiction just last year, it seems like Republicans are at least trying to restart this bandwagon.

Before we continue, I should note that I do not have an issue with people looking at why a shooter commits a shooting on principal. In my own recent book, The Definition of Sedition: Notes on Donald Trump’s Attempted Coup, I looked at various examples of mass shooters who claimed their inspiration was some right-wing politician or idea. However, in that case, I was using the words and actions of the actual killers — Jim Justice was not, he has no evidence the shooter in Uvalde either played violent video games or consumed pornography. The only reason he is attacking those things is because those are things he already does not like, it is that simple.

After the school shooting in Parkland, Florida in 2018, Republicans did everything they could to blame everything except for…