The recent mass shootings have terrified the nation. It’s not just the ferocity of the attacks. It’s the randomness of the victims, whether elementary school children or elderly women shopping at the neighborhood supermarket. People doing normal things, the things all of us do, find themselves attacked by a heavily armed man with a powerful, rapidly firing gun.
The shootings have reminded us that we could all be their targets. This is especially true when even the most disturbed and the most extreme among us have easy access to weapons.
The danger doesn’t just come from loners like the killers in Buffalo and Uvalde. Some of the most disturbing threats in our society come from disaffected and violent young men whose alienation makes them prime recruits by extremist political or religious movements. Social media encourages those who see no other answer to their grievances except violence, aimed at various groups in particular and society in general.
