There is wall-to-wall media coverage of another terrible murder scene, this time in Louisville, Kentucky, where a sociopath killed five people and injured eight others. The assailant left messages with friends that he was depressed and was going to kill people at the bank, posted social media messages affirming his intent, and then live-streamed his assault.

There will be forensic investigations of his digital footprint to determine his political and social views, but the fact is, this was a mentally deranged individual who, ultimately, wanted to die.

Police quickly engaged and killed the assailant before he could murder others. Among the injured are two police officers, one of whom, rookie Nickolas Wilt, just completed his training. He is in critical but stable condition.

The Louisville assault will likely be classified as “workplace violence,” as the assailant was employed at the bank where the attack took place and had recently been notified he was going to be fired. Four of the five victims are known to be employed by the bank. Classifying murders is a sterile process that tends to dehumanize the victims.

The victims have been identified: Joshua Barrick, 40; Juliana Farmer, 45; Tommy Elliott, 63; James Tutt, 64; and Deana Eckert, 57. Initial reports indicated an additional victim, but some media outlets were inexcusably counting the assailant among the victims.

The grief their families are suffering is unimaginable, except to hundreds of thousands of Americans who have also endured the murder of a loved one – more than 99.8% of whom were not victims of a mass murder.

Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY), who ran his campaign from that bank building, said: “I have a very close friend that didn’t make it today. And I have another close friend who didn’t either. And one who’s at the hospital that I hope is going to make it through.” He thanked law enforcement officers “for an incredibly quick response” as they “saved two other of my friends.”

Two weeks ago in Nashville, another sociopathic assailant killed six people in a hate crime targeting Christians. Predictably, that attack is now disgracefully being used as political fodder by Joe Biden and his ilk.

But in both the Nashville and Louisville attacks, like the Uvalde, Texas attack, it is clear the that assailant was suicidal. Almost all mass murderers are suicidal – as psychologist Joel Dvoskin notes: “The best way for us to think about mass shootings is as acts of suicide. With very few exceptions — in fact, almost no exceptions — anybody who does that has given up on their life. They’re going to kill themselves, they’re going to get the police to kill them, or they’re going to go away pretty much forever.”

Of course, Biden was quick to politicize the Louisville attack, declaring: “How many more Americans must die before Republicans in Congress will act to protect our communities? It’s long past time that we require safe storage of firearms. Require background checks for all gun sales. Eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.”

Notice he added, “Eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.” Using that standard, by extension is he proposing that auto manufactures are liable for the more than 10,000 drunk driving deaths annually? (Recall that Biden falsely claimed his first wife and child were killed by a drunk driver but has never mentioned holding the maker of that vehicle liable.) The fallacious manufacturer liability logic is endless — should spoon manufacturers be liable for making people fat?

But more directly liable for the actions of an unstable assailant would be the mass and social media platforms that promote and profit from the violent films and gaming – immersion in such media being a common denominator associated with most mass assailants. Not a word from Democrats about that – because they are major beneficiaries of “entertainment industry” dollars.

The far more pressing question, which you will not hear Biden ask, is this: How many Americans must die before Democrats stop propagating social policies that create urban poverty hell holes where most violence occurs?

What Biden and his leftists studiously avoid mentioning is that there are almost 60 murders on average every day in our country, a total of about 22,000 in the last year of record (2021). And contemplating the total number of murders in recent decades is why I noted previously that hundreds of thousands of families have suffered the loss of a murdered loved one.

The vast majority of those murders are drug- and gang-related violence committed in Democrat-controlled urban centers. Demos don’t want to focus on the violent demographic committing most of those assaults because the offenders are primarily their constituents.

That notwithstanding, politicizing the death of innocents is disgraceful — it also eclipses the humanity of the victims — but it is politically effective. These rare assaults fit the Left’s “assault weapons” ban agenda, a pathway ultimately to firearm confiscation.

Notably, given the media coverage of these high-profile attacks, there is a tendency to believe they happen every day and next door. Fortunately, they do not. In a nation of more than 330 million people, where more than 125 million citizens own firearms, mass assaults are rare, despite the 24/7 wall-to-wall commercial media churn to sell advertising. And on the subject of sensational headlines about the death of innocents, where does the MSM think mentally ill people get some of their inspiration for such attacks?

Finally, it is no small irony that two issues Democrats serially politicize are the mass murder of innocents and abortion.

FOOTNOTE regarding so-called “mass shootings” and “gun violence”: For the record, mass murders are very rare in our nation of 330 million people. There were approximately 25,000 homicides in the U.S. in the latest year of record, which you can view state by state, and fortunately there are indications that homicides may be declining after the surge in violence unleashed by Democrats in 2020.

They ubiquitously and falsely label the murderous contagion they seeded “gun violence” and focus exclusively on the rare high-profile “mass shootings,” which account for only a tiny fraction of all homicides. More than 99% of murders in the U.S. are not the result of mass attacks. Of course, guns don’t commit violence, thugs and sociopaths commit violence.

In a country and culture that ignores the rising generation of sociopathic murderers – countless thugs in violent urban centers who are completely saturated with violence to the point of glorifying it, it is fortunate that the incidence of mass murder is not ten times higher. Arguably, the only thing keeping that number down is that about 40% of households – 125 million Americans – are legal and responsible gun owners.

The oft-cited Gun Violence Archive defines a “mass shooting” as any incident that involves a “minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed.” But the vast majority of those violent attacks are the result of drug and gang violence committed on Democrat-controlled urban centers.

Democrats are very deliberate about only focusing on the infrequent high profile attacks because they can’t escape responsibility for the vast majority of murders on their degraded urban poverty plantations. They want to avoid at all cost, the “inconvenient truth” about race and violence, which is the direct result of failed Democrat social programs.

Those murders aren’t useful for the Democrats’ gun control narrative they invoke evoke emotional reaction from mostly wealthy white suburban women, whom form the Demos’ largest constituency.

As for actual mass murders as detailed in the FBI’s data on “active shooter incidents” – which it defines as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area” – in 2022, the FBI reported 50 incidents resulting in 313 casualties (100 killed and 213 wounded). In 2021 the FBI reported 61 incidents resulting in 243 casualties (103 killed and 140 wounded). In 2020, the FBI reported 40 incidents resulting in 164 casualties (38 killed and 126 wounded).

A more relevant record of mass murder data is maintained by the Associated Press and Northeastern University, which uses the Department of Justice definition of mass public shooting: “A multiple homicide incident in which four or more victims are murdered with firearms.” These numbers fluctuate significantly year over year, and range between 20 and 40 incidents.

FOOTNOTE 2: Firearms used for suicide represents 54% of all deaths involving firearms, most also involving drugs or alcohol abuse. The Left’s support for assisted suicide is in conflict with their support for gun control.

FOOTNOTE 3: Crime researcher John Lott reports, “[The Democrats’] ‘guns first’ approach ignores a basic fact — over 92% of violent crimes in America do not involve firearms.”

FOOTNOTE 4: Before we ban guns, let’s ban alcohol, which is far more deadly than guns. According to the latest CDC data, 140,000 people died from alcohol-related causes last year – more than five times the number homicides. Drunk drivers are responsible for 28 deaths per day. And notably, it is estimated that alcohol is also a key factor in at least 30% of homicides involving firearms. (Include illegal drugs and that number jumps to about 60%.) If Democrats are serious about homicides, they should outlaw alcohol. Problem is, the vast majority of alcohol users possess and use it legally and responsibly. Likewise, the vast majority of firearm owners possess and use them legally and responsibly. Enacting a prohibition on firearms is tantamount to enacting a prohibition on alcohol. In both cases, only law-abiding users are penalized while outlaws don’t obey laws.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776