Politics of the Gun

“… Luck let a gentleman see just how nice a dame you can be. I know the way you've treated other guys you've been with, Luck, be a lady with me….” Luck be a Lady Tonight… written by Frank Loesser and sung by Marlon Brando in Guys & Dolls… I don’t know who was at work the other afternoon in Butler, Pennsylvania-God, fate, or Lady Luck, but I do know for a split second, Donald Trump was the luckiest man in the world. He turned his head slightly, and a bullet clipped the top of his right ear instead of ripping through the right quadrant of his skull into the Cerebellum. The cartridges in question, fired out of an AR platform rifle were probably a 556/223 that at 130 yards would have still been travelling close to 3000 ft. a second. The lightweight projectile has a nasty reputation for not exiting but expending all its energy in the body by following bone, muscles and bending almost “L shaped”, where it acts much like a lawn mower blade. The result would have been a wound that the world’s best trauma surgeon couldn’t have treated, and former President Donald Trump would have been DOA at the hospital. The shooter, Thomas Crooks, was a nerdy looking guy, highly intelligent in math and science but, mainly characterized by his “nothingness”, a loner, bland, a social ghost, few, if any friends, not radical, or political, and not having the expected “footprint” on social media. He had no apparent history of mental health issues or previous threats, and was not known to federal, or local law enforcement.  As aptly described by Campbell Robertson in the New York Times, “… in an era when other people his age put troves of personal information online, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, left few clues about who he was, what he believed, or why he decided to drive to a Trump rally in western Pennsylvania on Saturday and try to assassinate the former president …” But many other details of Crooks’ life and motives are still unclear. The FBI, via search warrant, have unlocked his phone, but I’ll be surprised if it’s a treasure chest of information about his state of mind. We are a nation of 330 million people and there are some who by choice, or social ostracism become invisible, lost in the masses and ebb and flow of daily life, loners who pay more attention to us than we do to them. On the day of the attack, Thomas Crooks borrowed an AR 15 rifle from his father, under the auspices of going target shooting at the gun club, bought 50 rounds of ammo and purchased a ladder. He then drove 52 miles, approximately one hour’s travel time, from his home in Bethel Park to Butler. He had plenty of time to change his mind, but he didn’t, he was committed. Why, we may never know, the rational mind has limited success understanding the thoughts going through an irrational mind. He had at least one IED in the trunk of his car, possibly to be used as a distraction, to allow him to get a clear shot off. I will be surprised if the follow up investigation doesn’t learn that he'd made at least one “scout trip” to the Butler area as part of his planning. The FBI and the Pennsylvania State Police Homicide Detectives know how to work a murder and they’ll uncover anything that’s out there. They’re not saying much right now, which just confirms to me they know what they’re doing. The Secret Service is catching the expected flak, mostly from politicians and the media, both sources that should be ignored. The Secret Service has an impossible job and as anybody in law enforcement will tell you, they manage to do the impossible daily. Rather than whining that a nut managed to get off a few shots at a dignitary appearing in open bleachers in an open field, consider that within seconds, the agents had built a “body bunker” around Trump and the shooter was “down” from a counter sniper round. Here’s the terrible, nasty truth-a determined attacker will always find a way to circumvent a human or mechanical security device …translation, he’ll get off the first shot, particularly if doesn’t care if he dies. Dignitary protection details, particularly during election years, eat up manpower and equipment, you never have enough helicopters, K-9’s, SWAT, uniform personnel, detectives and support staff-everything is stretched thin, corners get cut, it’s not ideal, but it’s a fact of life. You do the best with what you have. As to the question of what caused the attack on former President Trump, was it the political climate and hate rhetoric? I have no idea, hopefully the follow up investigation will provide an answer, in the interim, maybe everyone on both sides should calm the fuck down and temper what comes out of your mouth and off your keyboard. As Chuck Todd said on NBC News, “…thanks to the algorithmic cesspool of misinformation that big tech platforms created to profit from our information ecosystem, there are plenty of comments that can easily be categorized as divisive and designed to incite more violence, not less. Sadly, a handful of elected politicians have contributed to and amplified this conversation, which can easily be misconstrued by a mentally disturbed individual……” Last but not least, tonight at cocktail hour, tip your glass to a guy named Corey Comperatore, a volunteer fire chief, who at the first shot pushed his family down and shielded them with his body. This is Medal of Honor action, and this guy died a warrior’s death, he is to be honored and not forgotten…