Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
At least 18 people are dead after two horrific mass shootings at a Maine restaurant and bowling alley on Wednesday night, and we are left with the usual questions: “Why does this keep happening?” and “What, if anything, could have prevented it?” There is an understandable desire to do something about this—right now!
If Hamas had been behind these shootings, we would already be mobilizing the national guard and dispatching another aircraft carrier to the Middle East. If the Proud Boys were the culprits, we would already be focused on white supremacy and right-wing political radicalization. If this were a school shooting, we would be discussing background checks, hardening school security, the peril of first-person shooter video games, or bullying.
In this case, however, there is thus far no manifesto or political motive. The suspect was a 40-year-old “firearms instructor believed to be in the U.S. Army Reserve,” according to Associated Press. He had been “committed to a mental health facility for two weeks in the summer of 2023” and was reportedly “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” his military base.