For the families of those who were tragically lost in one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history a motive would most certainly help to get some closure. As it is with most acts of violence en masse to find the motive is never a given and when it happens, however rarely, it may not be as clear cut as we would prefer it to be. When the first findings were released by then Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo, current Nevada Governor, it was reported that no definitive motive was identified. While these findings were released to the public in 2018, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has not stopped their own investigation and a recent trove of documents have revealed that the shooter may have felt mistreated by the casinos, spending hundreds of thousands and having little to show for it.
To make long story short, after being banned by several casinos for his erratic behavior and gambling habits, on that fateful day, a complete lack of anger management skills, a history of criminal behavior, a sick gun culture spreading across all fifty states have mixed causing him to snap triggering a tragic event that claimed the lives of fifty-eight americans and severely injure several hundreds more.
Having worked in a casino environment I have met this exact type, a through the roof level of entitlement mixed with countless toxic masculinity traits looking to degrade those who deny them requests refusing them from having their way. The shooter considered himself a professional gambler, he was a gambling addict instead. He thought he was intelligent enough to take the gambling industry head on and win, clearly his understanding of how casinos operate was very limited. There are ways to win but at the end of the day casinos across the world has ensured their profits are safe with full-proof strategies.
With over a thousand rounds shot at the crowd gathered for the Route 91 Harvest Festival from some of the TWENTY-FOUR guns found in his room it leaves little doubt that personal protection would be at the end of the list of reasons for why he was armed to his teeth. An additional TWENTY-FIVE guns and rifles were found at his homes he owned in Mesquite and Reno. With that being said, in a free for all kind of society, courtesy of the Republican party, bought and paid for by the NRA and the rest of the gun industry lobby, it makes one constantly wonder which “law abiding gun owner” will be next to wake up one day and choose violence against those who have crossed their path. With precedent having been created many decades ago and a lack of regulations the mass shootings in US keep taking the front page time and time again. Guns will always be a part of the american culture, to dream of a society free of guns is futile. But rather than fighting it we should have a conversation about measures to prevent mass casualties, to prevent casualties all together is next to impossible when the United States constitution guarantees every american citizen the right to bear arms. It’s very likely the shooter would have hurt many regardless of regulations but regulations would have ensured some of those fifty lives that have been claimed to return to their families and instead of several hundred injured it would have been a few dozen. A ban on semi-automatic rifles, a limit on ammunition, a psych evaluation to renew a license to carry, appropriate mental health therapy would have made a difference. That coupled with a reduced inflammatory rhetoric by those who claim to be gun rights advocates, wittingly or unwittingly contributing to loss of life across the nation.
To learn more about the content of the documents recently released to the public by the Federal Bureau of Investigations read this article published by USA Today.
This is a sticky subject for me.. I agree with majority of your points. What I don’t understand is that some experts with rifles said he never could have killed people that far away. I’m not an expert but would like one to walk me thru using measurements, how far his rifles can go.. That would just be pointless, I don’t know much of anything about guns. I do believe we need stricter laws. I also believe guns aren’t the problem here. I grew up with guns my whole life. My father, brothers hunted all the time. I knew where our guns and ammo were kept but I also knew how dangerous they were. No one went around killing innocent people back then. So what has changed?? Our society made it impossible for those with mental illness to seek help. They’re ridiculed, bullied, badgered. They removed mental hospitals all over so where can they go? People around them know who is mentally ill yet either never report them and avoid them or they do report them and NOTHING is done. Having security with metal detectives at every entrance. For “soft targets” such children and schools, put in bullet proof glass, gates, guards with guns that are TRAINED or cops patrolling. People say that’s a prison…but I’d rather my grandkids be safe than sorry abt it feeling like a prison. (Recess playgrounds built in the center of squared school..maybe an underground passage that leads to a safety building with no windows..) Our government can afford to do these upgrades in every school but choose to send money to other countries and to study insect matings. Ugh. Just my thoughts on the subject.