Well, here’s a post-Sutherland-Springs-shooting take that’ll make you think:
There are only two nearly universal characteristics of mass shooters: They're men and they use guns https://t.co/lEXlpThKwE
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 6, 2017
WaPo’s Philip Bump concludes:
Advocates for reducing gun violence, then, are left in an unfortunate position. There are often warning signs that can be addressed before a shooter decides to open fire, but there often aren’t. There are demographic factors that seem to recur — but not universally. The one consistent factor is that the shooter has access to a firearm, and that’s perhaps the one factor that has proven politically impossible to overcome.
OK, first of all:
GP How can something be "nearly universal?" Seems it's either universal or it's not. Sort of like being "kind of pregnant." https://t.co/4Zjc0o2ADU
— The Gormogons (@Gormogons) November 6, 2017
And second of all, weird wording aside, what, exactly, is so profound or surprising about the idea that mass shooters use guns?
https://twitter.com/mark_earnest/status/927576567437512705
Shooters use guns? What a surprise.
— Aryon (@AnElvishMale) November 6, 2017
Shooters use guns? So insightful.
— Drip Dailey ?? (@DaileyOfficial) November 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/OneAmericaWins/status/927577360878260229
https://twitter.com/hboulware/status/927585816645431299
It’d be pretty hard to commit a mass shooting without a gun…
— Jordan Parker (@jordanparker_) November 6, 2017
Recommended
Please name me one mass shooter who doesn’t use a gun….
— Señor Don Gato (@astewartfs) November 6, 2017
Ah yes, a common characteristic of shooters is that they use guns. I hear fishermen use fishing rods too.
— Eli ? (@elizidel9) November 6, 2017
Wait, so shooters don't use bubbles or marshmallows? I'm stunned, I tell you. Stunned.
— juli spice (@ImJuliCaldwell) November 6, 2017
Mass shooters need to switch to non-lethal throwing swords. Thanks Washpo. You’re helping.
— Wittorical (@Wittorical) November 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/Il_Male_Tiranno/status/927629052545921024
It's brilliant that WP caught what I'm sure everyone else missed: mass shooters always have guns.
— William R. Bowen (@Bibowen) November 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/ProgDisorder/status/927598677698404352
I see #Pulitzer in the future for your headline writer.
— Ben Strange (@BenStrange) November 6, 2017
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