School shootings: Lots of hot air and missing the point.

 The latest school shooting against a Catholic school has generated the usual knee jerk analyses, most of which miss the point.

The problem is depression and self hatred. 

In the one school shooting that happened where I had once worked, it was anger because of abuse by his parents: and the first ones he shot were his grandfather, before shooting up a school that he didn't attend (he was on home classes). And where did he get his guns? His grandfather was a policeman. 

In this latest shooting of Catholic school students,  it was a trans person. 

Some people feel they should belong to the opposite sex, but often this feeling is transient, and the others often are gay. Most are harmless and their families and neighbors here in the Philppines just shrug and accept them, just like second wives are accepted.

However the trans lobby is making changing gender a social contagion: Often the motivation for such transitions is because a counseler pushed it as the cure all for the depression and anger. We see this also with people seeking plastic surgery: sometimes they just want to change their appearance etc. but some see it as a cure all for their inner depression/self hatred.

The problem: if you don't recognize this, there is a danger of increased depression and it's mirror image: Anger and acting out against a symbol you see as causing your problem.

The internet makes this worse: So the Red Lake shooter didn't want to be angry against his abusive parents, but the internet filled him with white supremicist (!) hate ideas so he could blame his school and those who tried to help him.

So in this Minnesota case, I also suspect that when his transition didn't soolve his psychiatric problems,   well he only had to go to the internet to find suggestions that his anger was justified against an innocent third party: parents, or in this case, a church.

Psychiatrists are supposed to check for thoughts of anger/depression/suicidal plans and homicidal plans when they monitor people on SSRIs being treated for depression. Was this done? 

SSRIs decrease suicide and depression but when the anger of depression no longer is aimed inward, the anger can become acting out. Angry outbursts   are especially dangerous if the person is bipolar and gets manic symptoms.

And hormones also affect mood: Something no one wants to discuss.

Finally, the ability to get guns is a problem but in Minnesota they have gun control. Were his guns legal? 

But didn't the parent monitor his guns? And why didn't she confiscate the guns? 

When my teenage adopted son was acting out, I confiscated his hunting rifles, but he insisted I give them back since he had bought them with his own money. So I gave them back, minus the firing pin. No, I couldn't get him hospitalized, and his therapist merely affirmed that his anger against me was justified (ignoring the abuse he suffered before he was adopted).  So excuse me if I am cynical about therapy.

So why no family intervention here? Intervention by friends? Someone monitoring his social media posts (don't say this is not being done).

Finally, there is a question of security: Apparently, the same governor of Minnesota who feels schools need tampons in the boy's room denied funding for basic security for Catholic schools. 

From the NatCathReg:

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and the state Legislature both declined to act on repeated appeals from Catholic leaders seeking the same level of protection public schools receive.

of course, it might not be cost effective to send rent a cops to every church, church school, etc.

and the active gun rights community might say: Why didn't you provide your own protection? Train teachers and let them carry weapons.

Sigh. The problem? Most civilians freeze in time of danger

So how about prevetion?

The US military has people trained to use guns to kill people, and a lot of soldiers with PTSS and other risk factors for violence.

The Modern War institute has an article here about the problem

Protecting Soldiers, Preventing Harmful Behaviors, and Boosting Combat Readiness—with Data,

Project Prevention and the the Unit Risk Forecasting Tool (URFT), which applies predictive data analytics to give leaders an additional tool to keep their soldiers ready to train and fight.

much of the prevention focuses on the problems in units, not individuals, and of course, the loss of privacy would not be allowed in the civilian sector.

But high risk criminals are often known to the local police for less serious incidents and it is almost a joke when the police admit: This person was on our radar, meaning the cops were watching him or her.

The first line of defense of course is the community and family, including the extended family, local clubs, churches and even gangs who know who of their members are out of control.

In this case, the person was high risk and should have been monitored, or at least his social media monitored and his guns confiscated.

But the cops are the last line of defense in such cases because of civil liberties and the inability to get dangerous people committed into psychiatric institutions.

Sigh. Been there, done that...Sigh.