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Gun-Free Mass Killings and Fake Hate Crimes.

Gun-Free Mass Killings and Fake Hate Crimes.

Posted by Ed Folsom, November 23, 2024.

Photo included in the indictment (U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado)

Gun-Free Mass Murder:

In the way of events demonstrating that people bent on committing mass murder will find a way even if they don’t have a gun, the following are some examples from recent news stories here and abroad:

  •  On November 18, a man managed to stab 3 random strangers to death in 3 different outdoor locations in Manhattan between roughly 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. The culprit had been released early for good behavior from a sentence at Rikers Island jail. It appears mental illness played a role in the behavior. The stabber has a long history of serious mental illness and of expressing homicidal thoughts.
  •  As reported here, on November 16, 2024, in China, where guns are heavily restricted, a young man went on a stabbing spree at a college. He was reportedly upset about failing exams and the pay he was receiving through an internship. He left 8 dead and 17 others wounded.
  •  Less than a week before that, also in China, a man who was upset over the division of assets in his divorce killed 35 people at a sports complex, mowing them down with his vehicle.
  • Earlier still, on September 30, a man went on a stabbing spree in a Chinese supermarket, killing 3 and wounding 15 others. He was reportedly upset over financial disputes of an unspecified nature.
  • In July, in England, a 17-year-old boy went on a stabbing spree at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event, stabbing 3 little girls to death and wounding 8 other kids and 2 adults. In addition to murder and attempted murder, he faces a terrorism charge after police discovered that he possessed a jihadi training manual and had produced the poison, ricin.
  • Back in April, in Australia, a 40-year-old man with a history of mental illness dating to his teens went on a stabbing spree at a shopping mall. He managed to kill 6 people and wound 8 others before being shot dead by police.

Next time someone tells you that mass killings don’t happen in other countries, or suggests that we could stop mass killings here if we could only get rid of the assault weapons, now you know it isn’t quite true. The problem is the killers, not their means.

Fake Hate Crimes:

Jussie Smollett’s convictions of disorderly conduct were overturned this past week on double jeopardy grounds. Back in 2019, during the first Trump administration, Smollett enlisted a couple of Nigerian men to help him stage a hate crime against himself. He claimed he was attacked on a frigid January 29, 2019, in the middle of the night, in Chicago, by two unknown men who shouted anti-gay slurs and announced “This is MAGA country” before putting a noose around his neck and pouring bleach over him. In March of 2019, Chicago’s then-D.A. cut a deal with Smollett under which she dismissed the charges she had brought against him for faking the attack in exchange for community service and forfeiture of his $10,000.00 bail.

After those charges were dismissed, responding to outrage over the wrist-slap nature of the deal, a special prosecutor brought disorderly conduct charges against Smollett for the same incident. Smollett was convicted and sentenced to jail on the disorderly conduct counts. It was these convictions that were overturned last week on double jeopardy grounds, given that the earlier charges were dismissed after Smollett performed his end of his agreement with the D.A.

Seeing the Smollett story brought to mind another recent hate-crime-hoax revelation, this one from Colorado. Three people were recently indicted in federal court there for a 2023 hate crime hoax. During the mayoral race in Colorado Springs, an incident occurred at the home of then-independent-candidate and now-mayor Yemi Mobolade. Someone burned a cross on Mobolade’s front lawn, in front of his campaign lawn sign on which the “N” word had been spray painted. The three who were recently indicted are charged with staging the incident and spreading false information to boost Mobalade’s election prospects by suggesting that the supporters of a rival, Republican, mayoral candidate committed the acts.

When it comes to hate crime hoaxes, some people just keep on calculating that it’s truth-be-damned when there’s gold to be mined from the narrative.