UCSB Killer Elliot Rodger, Not Guns, is to Blame for Massacre
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I want to start this article by first extending my thoughts and prayers to the victims of the Isla Vista massacre. I spent summer 2010 in downtown Santa Barbara and will always cherish the time I spent living there. No town should be subjected to this kind of horror. Please join me in offering your condolences to those in the UC-Santa Barbara area.
Following the massacre, unsurprisingly, many leftists have made calls to ban guns and to dismantle gun groups. Additionally, radical feminists gave birth to the viral yet misleading #YesAllWomen hashtag to blame the massacre on men.
22-year-old Elliot Rodger, a Santa Barbara City College student and son of Hollywood director Peter Rodger, went on a killing spree May 23 with knives and guns that left six coeds dead and countless others injured. He ultimately died following a confrontation with Santa Barbara police.
Elliot Rodger was a deeply disturbed guy. From his bizarre YouTube videos to his 140-page manifesto, Rodger appeared to be self-absorbed, antagonistic towards others, and troubled from early on.
In one manifesto chapter-“21 Years Old”-Rodger writes how he went to the local gun range to “plan to carry out a massacre.” He wrote:
“I had the knowledge, in the back of my mind, that the Day of Retribution was very possible now. Going to the shooting range while I waited for my laptop gave me the perfect opportunity to gain some initial training in shooting guns, which will be the main weapons I use as vengeance against my enemies when the Day of Retribution ultimately comes to pass. I walked into the range, rented a handgun from the ugly old redneck cashier, and started to practice shooting at paper targets. As I fired my first few rounds, I felt so sick to the stomach. I questioned my whole life, and I looked at the gun in front of me and asked myself “What am I doing here? How could things have led to this?” I couldn’t believe my life was actually turning out this way. There I was, practicing shooting with real guns because I had a plan to carry out a massacre. Why did things have to be this way,: I silently questioned myself as I looked at the handgun I was holding in front of me. I paid my fee and left the range within minutes, feeling as if I was going to be sick. I spent the rest of the waiting period at the Coffee Bean in Oxnard, where I sat by myself feeling absolutely disgusted. My whole world was twisted.”
“After I picked up the handgun, I brought it back to my room and felt a new sense of power. I was now armed. Who’s the alpha male now, bitches? I thought to myself, regarding all of the girls who’ve looked down on me in the past. I quickly admired my new weapon before locking it up in my safe and preparing to go back to my hometown for the winter break.”
UCSB, like most universities across the country, is a gun-free zone. Campus policy says “brandishing a weapon or firearm” is unacceptable. Additionally, the state of California also boasts some of the country’s most stringent gun control laws.
Despite knee-jerk reactions to ban firearms, the Department of Justice reports gun violence has dropped 39 percent from 1993-2011. : Moreover, CNSNews.com’s Matt Vespa found that failure to spot Rodger’s mental illness was irresponsible:
“Recently, California received an “F” grade from the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), a nonprofit “dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illness,” on their mental commitment laws.”
Rodger–not the Second Amendment or guns–should be blamed for this heinous crime. Guns don’t have minds of their own, no matter how “scary” they look. Remember: it takes a person to pull the trigger.
Hold people responsible for the crimes they commit.
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