By Miguel A. Faria, M.D.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, the man accused of killing 10 people at at the King Soopers store in Boulder, Colorado, supermarket now faces 10 charges of first-degree murder for this heinous terroristic act. Nine civilians and the courageous police officer Eric Talley, who first answered the call, were killed in the attack.
We still don’t know the motivation for the shooting, but, as is usually the case, demands for more gun control were made before the basic facts were known. The Democrats and their gun prohibitionist allies in the media capitalize on every tragedy to push their citizen disarmament agenda.
We are only beginning to study psychopathy and unprovoked human aggression with biochemical and genetic markers, radioisotopes, and neuroimaging techniques. Much work still needs to be done with these techniques to add to what we know from neuropsychiatry and clinical psychology. These studies need to be carried out with all possible speed.
In my investigations of mass shootings and their media reporting, I believe these shooters are either deeply deranged individuals, prone to criminal insanity, who seek celebrity status, even if achieving it ends with their death…or they are disturbed or malcontented persons who have a bone to pick with society and blame others for their personal failures and shortcomings in life.
They take it upon themselves to hunt down and kill innocent victims to find deadly outlets for their pent-up resentments, satisfy their own sense of dissatisfaction, and even fulfill their morbid fantasies in the process.
The public health model for the study of gun violence was applied — or rather, misapplied — for over three decades and was found wanting, riddled with faulty, preordained, politicized gun research masquerading as science.
Mental health research needs to be intensified with a multidisciplinary approach in the study of mass shootings, including not only psychologists, but also sociologists and criminologists. Just the fact that we stigmatize the shootings as a mental disorder, subject to medical investigation, may serve as deterrence to those seeking notoriety while inflicting punishment on society for their personal failures.
Mass shooting deaths, enormous in human pain and suffering and tragic as they are, represent approximately one percent of all homicides in the U.S. The infamous 2017 Republican congressional baseball practice shooting in which House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot and wounded along with three other people, represent clearly a political crime. Others are carried out by deranged madmen as previously mentioned.
But was this most recent mass shooting in Boulder the work of a deranged madman or a political terrorist? With the name Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, many wonder if this was a terroristic, Jihad-inspired mass murder.
Alissa’s motives are yet to be ascertained. Yet these shootings, whether motivated by derangement or terrorism —which in our day is almost always Islamic terrorism inspired by jihad, whether home grown or foreign — must be thoroughly investigated before kneejerk responses to civilian disarmament are elicited.
Regardless of the motive, before we call for more gun control, which affects law-abiding citizens disproportionally more than criminals and madmen, we need to find ways to identify these deranged individuals before they strike. The simple parroted solution of the gun prohibitionist movement — i.e., banning “assault weapons” and enacting more gun control laws — is not the answer. We have had plenty of guns in American society, and yet, this type of mass murder at one time was far less common.
Still, Colorado legislators are furiously calling for more stringent gun control laws before all the facts in this case are known.
Reportedly Alissa used a Ruger AR-556 pistol during the shooting. This type of gun apparently would have been banned under the Boulder’s “assault weapons” ban law enacted in 2018. To add drama to the this act, the ban had been overturned by a local judge just days before the attack because it clearly violated a 2003 state law that prohibit municipalities from passing such ordinances in contravention of state law.
Among the “solutions” being proposed, Colorado lawmakers have called for another statewide ban of “assault weapons” as well as more draconian firearms storage laws and more requirements in reporting lost or stolen guns.
We must find effective alternative mental health and law enforcement solutions to mass shootings, whether they’re carried out by madmen or terrorists, without curtailing the God-given rights of citizens and ending freedom in pursuing false security.
Miguel A. Faria, M.D., is Associate Editor in Chief in socioeconomics, politics, medicine, and world affairs of Surgical Neurology International (SNI). He was appointed and served at the behest of President George W. Bush as member of the Injury Research Grant Review Committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2002-2005. His recently released book is America, Guns, and Freedom: A Journey Into Politics and the Public Health & Gun Control Movements (2019).
We all know what the “motive” is, problem is the a-holes behind it wont say it out loud!!
Here, you need help:
https://www.psychiatry.org/
I don’t give hoot in hell what his motive was. It don’t matter.
“Blessed are those who, in the face of death, think only about the front sight.” Jeff Cooper
That’s right dirty diaper knee jerk Jim Crow Gun Control democRats…Your insane calls for Gun Control blames everyone who owns a firearm within a 5000 mile radius of the store. Of course blaming innocent people is something you self serving scumbags do well.
Had the perp mowed down people with a Pirus democRats would not say one word about motor vehicles. Same with any other object used as a weapon including hands and feet.
Gun Control was alive and well at that grocery store. In its wake were deceased unarmed citizens and close behind were ambulance chasing Jim Crow Gun Control deranged democRats…What filth.
I’m liking you more and more Debbie.
Best,
David
Need to bring back more of the ‘Wild West” Back then this inhuman POS would have already been hanging from a tree branch. Has NO redeeming values.
Reportedly, his family members said that they knew, he was “Crazy” and had serious mental problems. That’s what they said.
He comes home with a gun and they say or report nothing. No one calls the police to say, “He got a gun and I’m scared, etc.” Either they are stupid or they know others were the likely target, not themselves. No one has said anything about his social media footprint, which is odd. I don’t see any investigative reporting, as the story is “Guns are bad” and the press is not interested in digging any deeper.
Wonder if he used his Joe Biden “Stimulus Check” to purchase his weapon. Maybe its Joe Biden’s fault for financing a terrorist. Ignorance is no excuse.
So are you advocating for Red Flag laws?
Colorado already has a Red Flag law
And don’t forget the paranoia and severe anger management issues.
As for the family, there would have been shame in admitting there son had mental health issues. So they practiced the “inshallah” (or if god wills) method.
What’s needed is some Middle East refugee “Sudden Jihadi” syndrome control, not more unconstitutional 2A infringement. The search for “motives” will lead investigators down the same rabbit-hole the Left has sent them down since 9/11, because our “woke” law enforcement establishment fears being called “racist” more than they dread mass civilian casualties.
“Yet these shootings, whether motivated by derangement or terrorism —which in our day is almost always Islamic terrorism inspired by jihad, whether home grown or foreign — must be thoroughly investigated before kneejerk responses to civilian disarmament are elicited.
But, but, Christopher Wray, the Director of the Feckless Bumbling Idiots, says WhITe sUpReMaCy is the greatest force for evil in the country! How could he be wrong?
And for Mr. Faria; no, we don’t need to ” find effective alternative mental health and law enforcement solutions to mass shootings”, or any other kind of unprovoked attack. All that needs to happen is that everyone carries and everyone shoots the azzwipes. I guarantee that anyone who comes at me or mine with intent to harm is gonna die, and I don’t concern myself with the why.
“We still don’t know the motivation for the shooting”. sorry Doctor but those of us who have fought these jihadi bastards know EXACTLY what the motivation for his actions were. He was lied to by his imams who taught him that paradise awaits those who kill in the name of their false god. He is going to have an eternity in hell to suffer for believing that lie. I have NO sympathy for him
But, but, the MSM told me that he’s mentally ill! His lawyers delayed his trial for a “mental health assessment.” How could they be wrong! /sarc
Motive: he hated Americans and wanted to kill them. There’s nothing complicated about it at all.
So you’re not a Christian, are you McGarnagle?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5iqYuFmzqg
Finally an “editorial” comment from a hired gun er commentator about Issa the moose-lamb jihadi.
Finally some honesty in gun political commentary for a change. Yes he is a white terrorist Muslim man. Not a white Christian man. And not a white Hebrew man. Not all Muslims are terrorists. But all terrorists are Muslims. And they were afraid of President Trump. Which is whuy he waited until AFTER Trump has gone. They are not afraid of President Biden.
And the terriorists will laugh at our first female President Harris. She will never feared like Golda Meir was.
I don’t know, the IRS made a fairly good terrorist organization. And so did we until the French helped legitimize us 🙂
fyi
“Domestic Terrorist Clothing”
https://dtclothingcompany.com/
(smile)
I disagree, muslim terrorists are brainwashed fanatics who do not fear anything, including death, as they seek martyrdom. Why would they fear Trump more than Biden? they don’t care, muslim terrorists aren’t afraid of Israel or very well trained and equipped special forces around the world. Maybe they’re afraid when they realize they’re about to die, who knows. They’re not necessarily brave either, more like zombified, brain dead individuals and ticking time bombs. The fact this guy surrendered to be taken into custody makes me think he might really be a mental case.
I have ETA from Basque regions of Spain on the phone. They would like a word.
Let’s see here:
I believe the two possible answers that the author is trying to find are (a) narcissists or (b) narcissists.
Yes, that’s right. People who commit mass murder are narcissists plain and simple. Whatever they claim as their motivation or gain all comes back to those scumbags’ sick notion that the world revolves around them (or should revolve around them).
There is a simple solution to narcissists: deny their attempts to steal from and murder others. Deny them early and deny them often.
That could apply to your average “you’re going to notice me now” nutjob, but not to fanatics. They do it for the “cause,” Islam and jihad or something else.
They should become a non-person whose history is erased.
It is both a strength and a weakness that honorable people assume everyone else is acting with righteous intentions.
Having studied the people who support civilian disarmament for over a decade now, I am thoroughly convinced that the overwhelming majority of them — especially the top-echelon — do NOT have righteous intentions. At best they simply want what they want and they do not care one iota how many people their disarmed society maims/murders. At worst, they actually want society to figuratively (and probably even literally) burn.
We would be wise to assume that civilian disarmament proponents have evil and/or hysterical intentions until they demonstrate otherwise.
We would also be wise to stop letting civilian disarmament proponents frame the debate.
Imagine a movement in support of serial rapists who argues about alleged health benefits to women who are raped and alleged benefits to society when rape is no longer illegal. And what would our side always do? We would set out to formulate a “reasoned response” about the health risks to women who are rape victims and the detriment to society — instead of simply saying THERE IS NO DEBATE TO BE HAD BECAUSE RAPE IS WRONG, PERIOD!
Why do we entertain claims about criminal motives, mental health research, and other such nonsense in connection with our INALIENABLE RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE SELF-DEFENSE?!?!?
No. Just, no. A lot of rape is wrong and a little tiny bit of rape is wrong. There are no, none, nada, zilch, zero justifications/rationalizations to legalize any level of rape. And there are no, none, nada, zilch, zero justifications/rationalizations to legalize any reduction of effective self-defense.
MENTAL HEALTH ? HOW TO STOP THE CRAZIES SHOOTERS .
ARM YOUR SELF , LTC , CCW ,
OK BAN AR , AK47 , RIFLES OFF STREET ,
IN CASE TO TAKE TO RANGE OR HUNTING GAME .
Give these “want 15 min of infamy” a number, not a name. Take it away and throw them into a deep dungeon. They do not deserve a name anymore. When these wannabes are totally forgotten and refused their soapbox, maybe things will change.
Stop giving them what they want.
” Hello, I’m here to get my brain scan , I had a ten o’clock appointment. ”
And your name is,,,,,
“possum. No just possum. ”
Ahh yes here it is, ten o’clock appointment with Dr Stien Franklin . Come right in , be seated we’ll be right with you.
Hello, my names Dr Franklin, let’s see ,,,,your wanting an MRI so you can purchase a gunm, is that correct?
” Yes”
Okay, we’ll just attach these electrodes here, it wont tak long, dont be nervous.
**BRRRZZZZZZAP**
Mr.possum, Mr. possum ,
“I uhh uhh, wh where am I?.
GAURD, take T094 to his room please.
Firstly, I know that shooting unarmed citizens in a supermarket is child’s play and that virtually anyone who knows how load an AR-15 or a weapon like an AR-15 and point it at a target is likely to accomplish that.
But shooting an armed cop 1st responder? That’s different. Given their arms and training I’m surprised the 1st responder didn’t kill this dodo bird immediately.
And, I wonder what were the specific circumstances surrounding this cops killing.
“Whatever the Motive, More Gun Control Won’t Stop Boulder-Style Mass Shootings”
CORRECT! Crazies, criminals and terrorists are not stopped by anti-gun laws. They simply do not care.
“this heinous terroristic act”
It’s not an act of terrorism if there is no political or religious cause behind it. Which would be stated by the attacker or the organization.
“We still don’t know the motivation for the shooting”
We have heard plenty of clues being reported from interviews with family and friends of the killer. Explosive temper, believed he was being followed and threatened by people who were not there. Could be a real nice person until some extremely minor event would turn him into total asshole in the blink of an eye.
Severe mental illness. Psychotic nutjob. No motivation will make a lick of sense to normal people. At some point, the search for motive ends with “VIOLENT CRAZY PERSON”.
“Mental health research needs to be intensified with a multidisciplinary approach in the study of mass shootings, including not only psychologists, but also sociologists and criminologists.”
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!
This is what is wrong with Gun Control efforts. They focus on the inanimate objects. They apply only to people who are not the problem.
Focus on the human element of Human Violence. Build mental hospitals and staff them.
Remember the first victim of the Sandy Hook attack was the killer’s mother who struggled for years to get help for her increasingly deranged son. She was turned away every time in a system that lacks laws, lacks funds and lacks facilities to deal with the dangerous crazies in our society.
I’m not always favorable to the many press and blog pieces disguised as pleas for research funding. But I’ll go with this one. At least in terms of hope for pharmaceutical or neurological based treatments with wider distribution and efficacy. The Mental Health profession in this country as is seems a bankrupt discipline and health delivery failure. Just somewhere above ‘studies’ on violence that concentrate on firearms. Another case of follow the money, denial of responsibility foisted on a scapegoat like the 2nd amendment.
Think of the timing of the over prescription of pain killers epidemic, and the AMA’s attacks on firearms. Just what I need, another reason to think twice before giving personal information to my physician much less any other type of health care ‘provider’ given the administrative use holes in HIPAA. Also note the opportunistic political and media use of a tragedy to now go after ghost guns and pistol braces. A feeding frenzy as usual.
Motives and gun control court battles aside, from preliminary ‘news’ reports it sounds as if the p.o.s. in these murders would have been flat out denied a firearm purchase in my state (Utah, one of the most gun friendly states there is) for a criminal, and non-criminal history of violent crime/incidents. Is this rampage like others possibly another instance of not enforcing what gun laws, and information sharing requirements, that already exist in Colorado? Stay tuned.
Why does “motive” matter so much? I question the conventional wisdom that we must always have some accepted motive as if it will explain away a tragedy. Evil is a universal motive, and Evil people do Evil things to others. History is chalked full of Evil people and their Evil deeds, across every race and culture. Knowing whether they’re a Sociopath or a Psychopath doesn’t alter their Evil actions.
The truth is, the victims, the community, the State and the Nation, would be better served if they would have just shot this whackjob on sight, rather than capturing him alive. The money saved alone justifies that policy.
True enough. Though it does help to study these animals, as an aid to stopping the next one before the shooting starts.
This is why we almost never hear of the Secret Service having to shoot someone. Most of the threats they detect early and plan how to intervene. Crazy nutjobs get arrested, hauled in a for a psych eval and committed behind bars.
So, no innocents get shot.
Frankly, Boulder’s so-called “assault weapons” ban wouldn’t have made ANY difference in this case, simply because this sociopath legally purchased the Ruger AR-556 pistol he used at Eagles Nest Armory in the Denver suburb of Arvada, which is about 20 miles south of Boulder.
https://us.yahoo.com/news/2-000-honor-boulder-shooting-040859391.html
Never, never underestimate the insidious ability of government types to foster “incidents” to promote their agenda.
Possibly these incidents were influenced, nurtured and “nudged” at an appropriate time….in a cluster for maximum effect….. ……with a little help from psychotropic drugs…..by a Deep State operation to act such that the masses of Little People cry out for the Sleazy, Senile, Elitist Leader to “do something,…anything” to make them safe.
“The ‘Do Something’ Disease”…..aka “Stampede The Flock Over the Edge”…….The Lemming Effect……Get ‘Em While They’re Hot. “Hair on fire, we’re all going to die” contingent.
Dead bodies in a grocery store aisle, or school classroom, or church pew…..the bad guy with a gun…..or the gang member with a gun…. the mentally deficient guy with a gun……or the terribly distraught family member of a gun shooting victim…… or a gun violence survivor……or the Feelz-Gooder Social Do-Gooder….. or the the “hair-on-fire, we’re-all-gonna-die” contingent……or the skin color only voter…..or the “just need common sense” purveyors…..or the “we just need to come together” crowd…..are the politician’s easily manipulated Useful Idiot Tools to achieve his power and control agenda.
Keep wondering how much a Deep State effort is probably at work to create these “Heat ‘Em Up Events”, A Government Deep State undercover operation to identify susceptible/vulnerable individuals to nurture, position, “nudge”, and trigger at opportune times and places to stampede the flock over the cliff of civilian disarmament.
But, our government would never do that….NAW.
-Our government would never weaponize the FBI to exonerate a crooked as sin ex-FLOTUS/SoS for treasonous acts, and attempt an coup against a duly elected President for the same collusion with the Russians…NAW
-Our government would never weaponize the IRS against Conservative organizations….NAW
-our government would never run guns to Mexico to demonize US gun laws for Mexican crime, corruption, and violence….NAW,
-our government would never allow invasion of our borders for political purposes, and voting power….NAW,
-our government would never create voting fraud….NAW
-our government would never spend foolishly, squander, skim, scam tax payers’ money to bankrupt and weaken America from within so as to drop into our enemies’ hand as an over ripe fruit….PLOP…NAW
-our government would never run a pandemic for political purposes, shutting down the economy, putting more citizens on the Government Plantation Free Shit Express to servitude and control, desensitizing the little peeps to be faceless mask wearers, order followers….NAW
-Our government would…..well I can go on and on, but you should get the idea,
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