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Isla Vista Murders: What New Laws, What New Lessons?
Townhall.com ^ | May 29, 2014 | Larry Elder

Posted on 05/29/2014 5:47:15 AM PDT by Kaslin

Elliot Rodger's story is not one of an untreated, mentally ill, white mass-killer who illegally acquired fully automatic "assault weapons." This mixed white and Asian 22-year-old bought his firearms legally, did not use a long-arm or "high-capacity" weapon and had been in therapy since the age of 8. Half his murder victims were killed by knife. Several of the injured were run over by Rodger's car.

None of the mental health professionals apparently felt that Rodger was a danger to himself or others. The police had recently conducted a welfare check on him at the request of his family. Rodger persuaded the police that he was fine.

In the media coverage of the Isla Vista, California, murdering rampage, one angle seems conspicuously absent. Few in the media describe the killings as a "hate crime." Determining what is and is not a crime motivated by "hate" has always seemed bizarre, particularly given how the term seems selectively applied. A Hispanic, for example, could, until recently, be a "hate crime" victim -- but not a perp. Government hate crime stats counted Hispanic perps -- but not victims -- as "white," thus inflating the number of hate crimes committed by "whites."

The Isla Vista murderer has a white father and Chinese mother. In his 140-page "manifesto," Rodger spells out exactly whom he hates -- "fully white" people: "I realized, with some horror, that I wasn't 'cool' at all. I had a dorky hairstyle, I wore plain and uncool clothing, and I was shy and unpopular. On top of this was the feeling that I was different because I am of mixed race. I am half white, half Asian, and this made me different from the normal fully-white kids that I was trying to fit in with."

At the age of 8, he talked his parents into letting him dye his hair blonde. The hairdresser, however, said he was too young, and would only bleach the top. Two years later, Rodger tried again: "I was eager to re-bleach my hair to a fully blonde color, after the disastrous failure of my previous attempt. This time, (my stepmother) took me to the right salon, and they gave me a short haircut and bleached all of my hair blonde. When I looked at myself in the mirrior (sic), I felt an intense level of satisfaction."

What's more disturbing -- that a child, at age 8, wants to die his hair to be a different race or that his parents let him do it?

Rodger also wrote racist postings on PuaHate, a misogynist hate site for men who dislike "pickup artists" and consider them manipulative hucksters who score attractive women over more deserving people like Rodger. Last January, he posted this:

"Today I drove through the area near my college and saw some things that were extremely rage-inducing.

I passed by this restaurant and I saw this black guy chilling with 4 hot white girls. He didn't even look good.

Then later on in the day I was shopping at Trader Joe's and saw an Indian guy with 2 above average White Girls!!!"

"What rage-inducing sights did you guys see today? Don't you just hate seeing these things when you go out? It just makes you want to quit life."

A murder victim's anguished father blamed "craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA." This father, of course, is in deep pain. The desire to blame something or someone is understandable. And, yes, mental health care experts should advise us on warning signs and encourage us to be proactive in urging those who need help to get it.

But while the experts play Sigmund Freud, may we protect ourselves -- evening the odds a little in favor of the good guys? This spree lasted 10 minutes, and police counted nearly a dozen crime scenes.

Nearly 40 states allow people -- on a "shall issue" basis -- to carry a concealed weapon, something that might have minimized the Isla Vista carnage. But California is not a "shall issue" state.

California has some of the most stringent "gun control" laws in the country, including the elimination of the so-called "gun-show loophole" and limiting handgun purchases to one per month. All transactions require a background check -- even a private sale between two police officers. A new law requires "traceable micro-stamping" for all new semi-automatic handguns.

Still the NRA gets blamed -- not the gun-free zones, not the inability of citizens to protect themselves and certainly not the shooter. Blaming the NRA or "craven politicians" won't stop bad guys -- in this case, one filled with racial hatred -- from doing bad things. The old line still rings true: The best and most sure way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: banglist
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1 posted on 05/29/2014 5:47:15 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
I am half white, half Asian, and this made me different from the normal fully-white kids that I was trying to fit in with.

The office manager where I work is of Swedish ancestry. Her husband is Cambodian. Their son is 16, and mom has to practically carry a club to keep the girls off him.

2 posted on 05/29/2014 5:53:25 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Kaslin

The only law that will stop this is to require cops to be mindreaders with crystal balls.


3 posted on 05/29/2014 5:56:38 AM PDT by bunkerhill7 ("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione.")
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To: Kaslin

What enrages you? I don’t get enraged by the sight of girls hanging out with guys I don’t consider up to their level or anything like that.

I get angry when I go out, and see all this baby mama stuff going on at the mall. I get angry when I see all these gang types hanging around at the mall, and I want to get out of there.

But, I also have presence of mind not to go shooting up the place because I see things I wish I didn’t have to see. Clearly this guy was mentally ill and not fit to live in society. I’m glad he’s dead. Harsh to say, but, society is rid of a bad apple.


4 posted on 05/29/2014 5:58:44 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego (et)
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To: Kaslin

From what I understand his parents called police due to prior videos. Would it be out of question for a warrant issued for the computer to check it out?


5 posted on 05/29/2014 6:00:02 AM PDT by Undecided 2012
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To: Sherman Logan

Buttt....

Betcha none of the victims could PROVE they needed a gun to defend themselves....to the “authorities’, natch.

No self-defense for THEM!!


6 posted on 05/29/2014 6:01:30 AM PDT by Flintlock (islam is a LIE, mohammmud a CRIMINAL, sharia is POISON!)
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To: Sherman Logan

There’s no “ethnic” reason that kid wouldn’t “fit in” with “white kids”. I can’t think there’d even be any cultural reasons either.

Maybe he’s just a weirdo and no one wants to be around him.


7 posted on 05/29/2014 6:02:08 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: Sherman Logan

Daniel Greefield had it right this week. The killer was a killer writing to justify himself. If we want to stop evil we have to stop the evildoers. Giving them guns and requiring every nice person to walk around disarmed is great target practice for the bad guys, not so much for honest citizens.


8 posted on 05/29/2014 6:02:24 AM PDT by Louis Foxwell (This is a wake up call. Join the Sultan Knish ping list.)
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To: Kaslin; Ellendra

Former high school class mate of mine posted the father’s rant on Facebook last night. The one about gun control laws. So I posted, “I agree. Let’s start with removing restrictions on our constitutional rights, so that victims have a chance to defend themselves.” He responded with: “I still have to get a license to drive my car.” I wrote: “Refresh my memory - which constitutional amendment guarantees your right to own or drive a car?” He has not yet responded to that. Either he can’t, or he’s unfriended me, or he’s writing a screed to end all screeds! :-)


9 posted on 05/29/2014 6:05:49 AM PDT by knittnmom (Save the earth! It's the only planet with chocolate!)
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To: Kaslin
...had been in therapy since the age of 8.

Another untold truth. Mental health professionals are snake oil peddlers. They had 14 years to fix him and didn't.

10 posted on 05/29/2014 6:07:26 AM PDT by LoneRangerMassachusetts (The meek shall not inherit the Earth)
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To: Louis Foxwell

Exploiting the tragedies is what democrips are all about. They are demagogues in waiting, waiting to serve the oligarchs who want to disarm the masses so the stormtroopers owned by the oligarchs can take full control and fill up the population reduction camps, asap. These things are not about the weapon used to slaughter the unarmed. These things are about magic thinking applied to disarm the masses for the empowerment of the oligarchs.


11 posted on 05/29/2014 6:08:11 AM PDT by MHGinTN
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To: bunkerhill7

That is the plot behind the movie Minority Report.


12 posted on 05/29/2014 6:10:16 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Haven't you lost enough freedoms? Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: Kaslin

“mental health professionals”

my skepticism of this profession knows no bounds


13 posted on 05/29/2014 6:12:06 AM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

the world is supposed to please him, that is the world’s failure


14 posted on 05/29/2014 6:13:36 AM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Louis Foxwell

no one “gave” him a gun, he acquired it legally, unlike most criminals


15 posted on 05/29/2014 6:14:19 AM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: knittnmom

yes, I agree, if one of his roommates had brought a gun to knife fight, the kids wouldn’t be dead, better yet if a cool sorority chick had pulled out her pistol and stopped him, that would suffice


16 posted on 05/29/2014 6:17:21 AM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

But six others had to pay the ultimate price for this piece of excrement to be gone. Sad.


17 posted on 05/29/2014 6:18:50 AM PDT by US_MilitaryRules (Did you just get off the short bus or what?)
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To: bunkerhill7
The only law that will stop this is to require cops to be mindreaders with crystal balls.


18 posted on 05/29/2014 6:19:27 AM PDT by bamahead (Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master. -- Sallust)
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To: MrB

Yep. That would be my take too. My office manager’s son is a good bit more “Asian-looking” than this killer, and she says they’ve never had any problem with racial stuff at all. And that’s in a presumed-racist southern state, not enlightened SoCal.


19 posted on 05/29/2014 6:19:42 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Sherman Logan

The whole canard of “Southern Racism” is really about those in the South expecting a certain standard of decorum and behavior,

and the urban culture does not fit that standard.


20 posted on 05/29/2014 6:22:21 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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