Misplaced blame in Colo. school shooting, as red flags ignored

Another horrific school shooting has captured headlines.  Americans are alerted to the fact that two shooters were responsible for terrorizing and wounding 8 students, some critically, and taking the life of another at a suburban Denver K-12 STEM School.

Gun-control activists are amassing, once again. Reliably, they blame the Second Amendment for the cold-blooded carnage. They are wrong. 

The discussion that should be taking place needs to center on the hard truth that children grow up watching and accepting violence as entertainment.  Rather than object, too many parents, longing to be cool rather than parentally authoritative, purchase brutal video games or allow their children to watch movies that feature bloody savagery. Toddlers placed in front of TVs in their bouncy chairs are weaned on aggressively battling cartoon characters.

There is also a mental health component, uncomfortable to acknowledge and all too frequently ignored.

Devon Erickson, the 18-year-old shooter wrote on his Facebook page that he was covered in ink and was addicted to pain. He expressed hatred for faith-based Christians, denigrated Donald Trump and praised Barack Obama.

John Fenton, a news producer with CBS Denver, wrote on Twitter that the “car towed from #stemshooting suspect’s home apparently has ‘F*** SOCIETY’ spray painted on the side. Also ‘666’ and a what looks like a pentagram sprayed on the hood.” These symbols are regarded as a blasphemy against God. A photo of the car is under the Twitter link.

The second suspect, a minor, was not named, but the Denver Channel wrote that multiple sources say, “The second suspect is a transgender male who was in the midst of transitioning from female to male.”

These were more than subtle clues that neither parents nor teachers bothered to pick up on. Devon Erickson, who had guns in a guitar case in his bedroom, went by the name “devonkillz” on his Snapchat account.

That moniker alone should raise suspicions. But no. It’s the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution we need to suppress.