America COMMENTARY Blame Mental Health Crisis, T BY MICHAEL DORSTEWITZ
he ghouls came out in full force to blame everyone and everything for the March shooting at a Nashville, Ten-
nessee, Christian elementary school, before the bodies of the six victims had even cooled. They blamed everything, that is,
except for the real cause of this tragedy — the shooter. Transgender Audrey Hale, 28, who
went by the name Aiden, shot and killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members in their 60s at The Covenant School in what police said was a “targeted attack.” Media and the left blamed Repub-
licans, white people, Christians, the shooter’s parents, and even the school. But the biggest culprit, most believed, were the guns. “It’s heartbreaking, a family’s worst nightmare,” President Joe Biden said. “We have to do more to stop gun vio- lence.”
Observing that the shooter carried
two so-called “assault-style” weapons and a handgun, he again demanded that Congress ban such weapons. Actor George Takei, best known for
his role as Mr. Sulu, helmsman on the starship Enterprise in the Star Trek series, had a diff erent opinion.
“In case it’s not yet clear, the prob-
lem is the Republicans,” he tweeted, and that opinion was shared by the White House and even some media. “How many more children have to
be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act?” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean- Pierre asked. Newsweek suggested that Tennes-
see Republicans were at fault. “Drag shows and gender-affi rming
care for minors were banned in Ten- nessee this month, while assault weap- ons remain legal,” Newsweek tweeted. Eli Erlick, a Ph.D. candidate at
the University of California at Santa Cruz, had a diff erent take — it was the school’s fault. “As we learn more, it’s clear the
Nashville Covenant School is a right- wing institution in which Audrey Hale and many others were abused,” tweet- ed Erlick, who is researching political philosophy, social movements, and trans history. “Obviously, this isn’t an excuse to
attack it. But there are problems with deregulating religious schools + the US’s lack of mental healthcare.” The Daily Mail proclaimed in its
headline that “Nashville mass school shooter Audrey Hale was rejected by her Christian parents who ‘couldn’t
VICTIMS The three children and three adults killed in the Nashville Christian school shooting are shown on a phone during a gun violence protest inside the Tennessee Capitol.
18 NEWSMAX | MAY 2023
Not Guns, for School Shooting Media ignores real cause of latest tragedy.
accept’ she was gay and trans.” So, apparently, she was the real vic-
tim. If only her parents had been less “Christian.” It turns out Hale wasn’t actually the
fi rst LGBT shooter. Breitbart News identifi ed three other transsexual mass shooters within the past fi ve years: November 2018: Snochia Moseley,
a man who identifi ed as a woman, wounded three and killed three after opening fi re at his place of employ- ment in Aberdeen, Maryland. May 2019: A Colorado woman who
identifi ed as male shot up a school, killing one and wounding eight. November 2022: A Colorado man
who identifi ed as transsexual shot up a gay nightclub, killing fi ve and wound- ing 18. And in each instance the person responsible for the shooting was the one who pulled the trigger. It wasn’t the victim, mom and dad, or nasty Republicans. It wasn’t the gun’s fault, either. Days after the Tennessee school
tragedy, Glynn Neal, 42, attacked Phil- lip Todd, a staff member of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as he was exiting a restau- rant in Washington, D.C., leaving him with life-threatening injuries. He didn’t need a gun. He used a
knife. And he’d been released from prison the day before after earning so- called “good time credit.” It’s not the weapon; it’s the perpe-
trator. And more often than not it’s a perpetrator with a screw loose. We don’t have a gun problem; we
have a mental health problem. And if we don’t admit it and address it, it’s only going to get worse.
MICHAEL DORSTEWITZ is a retired lawyer and Newsmax columnist.
SETH HERALD/GETTY IMAGES
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