Sunday Reflection: The mass shooter

The United States has  a problem that other nations don't have: people taking a gun or guns to a public place and killing as many people as they can.

Almost always, it is white men who commit these terrible crimes. Their reasons are hard to discern: sometimes they seem aggrieved about some personal issue or break-up, other times there is a deep racial animus, and sometimes mental illness plays a role. For some of the killings, it is almost impossible to discern a motive.

Often, though, it seems that the killers are lashing out against people they think are threatening them, or are seeking revenge on those who have hurt them (or at least are perceived to have done so).

I'm at a loss to explain how people get to the point of such evil. We don't put much effort into figuring that out though-- and shouldn't it be important? Part of the problem is that we don't trust what killers say and don't want to validate them, and there is that danger if we pay too much attention to what they say about what they are doing. For some, in fact, that chance to "explain" seems to be what they are seeking from the crime all along.

I understand the need to deny them that public explanation. But I also long to understand how people can become capable of such heinous acts.