The Frightening Enigma of the Las Vegas Shooter

The Atlantic ^ | Oct. 3 2017 | David A. Graham

[Avalon Memories]

Violent crime is most often committed by younger males. The likelihood of a first time offender committing a violent crime, let alone mass murder, decreases with age, and is rare in the over 60 population. So what might cause a guy leading a heretofore comfortable life to become a mass murderer? Something that created rage in him. Physical and/or mental deterioration such as a psychotic break or brain tumor. A severe destabilizing event of some sort. Some long simmering fury that he finally decided to act upon. Medication issues of some sort. Bottom line...whatever the cause it is not likely to be a garden variety motive.

[ifinnegan]

“Most mass murderers, aside from Islamist terrorists, tend to be white.”

Not true at all,

Maybe you mean in the US and You mean spree killers.

And then the above is not even necessarily even true.

[Pelham]

We don’t know enough about Paddock to know if he’s an “enigma” or not.

His bank robber father was judged to be psychotic as well as criminal.

Stephen Paddock may just be a chip off the old block, only more so.

[x]

If a Southern white conservative drove up to New York and shot up a bunch of liberals at a Guggenheim Art Museum Event would the press ‘muse’ about the possibility he was a conservatives that hated liberals? You betcha they would.

Would the Atlantic state there was 'no obvious motive' at a Guggenheim Event Slaughter?

If the killer drove from Nevada to Nashville or Branson or Dollywood it would have made things a lot clearer.

But he didn't. He shot at the largest gathering he could see from his hotel window and that makes coming to a conclusion not quite so easy.

There's a built-in bias on political sites to assuming everything is political. Maybe the bias reflects the truth in this case, but some people are just crazy and beyond the usual political categories.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Most mass murderers, aside from Islamist terrorists, tend to be white."

In the US, where the population was traditionally about 85% white, and is still about 60% white, but obviously not in other countries with different racial and ethnic compositions.

And the pool of mass murderers is so small as to make statistical differences untrustworthy for the purpose of drawing any broader conclusions.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Yes, I mean in the US. And yes most domestic mass murderers and serial killers are white males.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/476456/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-shooter-s-race/

[Lee'sGhost]

There is a reason.

[Steve_Seattle]

"He wired $100,000+ to someone in The Philippines."

The police must know who that someone or something is, even if they are not saying so. You don't send a wire or make a transfer without specifying a specific recipient or a specific account.

[SoCal Pubbie]

That may be true, in fact it makes sense. Still, most here are white and I took no offense from the author saying so.

[NorthMountain]

Three questions:

1) What was the motive?

2) Who else was in on it?

3) How long were they planning it?

[ifinnegan]

“...though as a white man he shares a race and gender with many other perpetrators”.

“most domestic mass murderers and serial killers are white males.”

So “many other”. And, you, “most”.

Just pointless idiocy.

[Ann Archy]

BINGO!!! Since the media has said he’s a right winger....that pretty much says he was a LEFTIST!!

[Sir Napsalot]

Don’t hold your breath.

If “it” don’t fit The Narrative, we (regular Joe’s) won’t hear none of it.

[lavaroise]

Gingrich mentioned it on Hannity. there is no way this dude did not have a motive. ashoots people, no manifesto, nothing... He is like , there is a strange “not coming together as a nation like after 911”

Yes, how about that, which is typical result of successful stealth communis masked antifa like operations.

[lavaroise]

Hou can bet if he voted Republican Trump card carrying, it would be all over the freaking news and out the mouthes of the seditious FBi.

As for the Vegas police, pathetic. They are like, the FBi is doung this, that and the FBi said this and that, ... they have no control over this and peotecting their citizens, they are federalized under Homeland.

[Gideon7]

There are also the photos of the anti-Trump protestor wearing the pink pussy hat who might be Paddock. At first it was discounted because the protest was in Reno, which is quite a long drive from Mesquite.

But today the Daily Mail (UK) reported, “A SWAT team also raided a second property owned by Paddock in Reno on Monday.”

He has a home in Reno.

This needs to be investigated.

[YogicCowboy]

We aren’t lucky, and it will be concealed by our corrupt, leftist bureaucracies.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Facts are neither pointless nor are they idiocy.

[GOPJ]

How about if a conservative white man drove from the Bronx to the Guggenheim and murdered 59 liberal elites AND the woman he was living with was married to a Breitbart activist?

Would the press ‘wonder’ under those circumstances that maybe just maybe - - it might - - just might - - be political?

(the killer's ‘woman’ is married to a uber liberal ‘move-on’ activist... AND the large number of arms he had in the hotel room points to a likelihood that more than one person was involved. Maybe a person who backed out at the last minute?)

And what do we hear? How much the guns weigh... gun control... all the usual democrat talking points. I feel that if the facts were reversed and the people murdered were white liberal elites OR any democrat victim group that the FIRST comments would be about the situation being political.

I could be wrong.