According to his neighbors in NC, the guy did have some disordered thoughts that made having a simple conversation with him difficult.
Even so, I don't think the problem can be boiled down to "mental health issues" or "gun control". I think it is a much larger problem, I think it is cultural, and I think it has to do with our collective belief that violence is an acceptable way to solve any issue. Every issue. We have a hammer, and every problem looks like a nail. We have a delusion that *** kicking is the same thing as problem solving, and I don't know how we're going to overcome that, or whether we will.
Real men don't think, in our cultural narrative. Real men shoot their problems. Thinking is part of the despised "elite class". Reasoning, compromise, consensus are all somehow seen as weak. Compromise may as well be abject retreat.
I don't know what it's going to take to solve this. I do know that screaming at each other, about gun control or anything else, is not going to solve it.
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In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.