Indianapolis

I do not believe it will be possible to build a society based on inclusion, diversity, and equality if mass murder continues to happen every day. Americans will not accept that consequence, so we need to find an answer to this problem before we can even dream of having an inclusive society.

There was incident in Indianapolis just a couple days ago - the third mass shooting there in just this year alone. The shooter was a 19-year old boy named Brandon Hole. He was evidently very troubled, as a year ago, his mother called the police on him, fearing he might commit “suicide by cop” in which he would attack a police officer in the hopes of being shot and killed. The FBI completed an investigation but found no evidence that a crime had been committed nor that a crime might be committed, so they let him go and dropped the case. Hole had been working at a FedEx at the time but lost his job sometime in 2020. Just a few nights ago at 11:30pm, he went into the FedEx where he had been previously employed, shot and killed eight people, wounded five others, and then proceeded to kill himself.

This kid was a walking time bomb who was bound to explode. There should’ve been a way to refer him to some kind of specialist who knew how to handle potential shooters. We need to be able to detect dangerous people, evaluate them, and design psychological programs to fit their needs. We need to draw up complete psychological profiles of each individual mass shooter by assessing their strengths and weaknesses. Once we figure that out, we can then tailor specific treatments for them. These people require a lot more than just seeing a therapist or being prescribed medication. They are human time bombs who are certain to explode unless they are diffused first. And in the world we currently live in, it’s going to be easy for them to explode since there’s so much hate circling our nation already. Mass shooters thrive on hate; they feel it’s the only power they have. In order to help diffuse them, we first need to understand why they believe in violence and why they want the power of a gun. We need to understand the challenges they are facing before we can develop specific programs for them. As part of these programs, we need to have mentors sit down with them, roleplay situations they might not do too well in, and show them alternate ways of handling the situations. We need to teach these people helpful skills so they can realize they don’t need a gun to solve their problems.

Inclusion, diversity, and racial equality are all things we should strive for, but how can we achieve those things when mass murder is happening almost every day? What good does it do to have all those things if you have to think about getting shot every time you walk out the door? No one is going to want to work towards an inclusive society if it means getting killed in a mass murder spree. It’s going to take a lot more than stricter gun laws to solve our problems. Sure, making it more difficult to obtain guns might stop shooters for a little while or slow them down a bit, but if they really want a gun, they’re going to get one. And if they really want to kill people, they’re going to do so. What we really need to do is be proactive and stop these shooters before they explode.