Misogyny and Mass Shooters
Misogyny has been proven to lie at the core of mass shooters’ racism and ideologies of Hate. Sexism is the primal, primary ‘ism,’ assimilated along with mothers’ milk (irony intentional) in far, far too many societies. In some ways, the behaviour is merely the logical, if extreme, outcome of ongoing aggressively male-dominant, which is to say ‘patriarchal,’ cognitive culture.
In the case of the Dayton shooter, Connor Betts, police uncovered a stunningly large arsenal after the Ohio man openly fantasized about mounting multiple Planned Parenthood terror attacks. In high school, he had maintained a rape and murder list, terrorizing fellow students. Statistics show that more than half of mass shooters have a serious incident of violence against a woman close to them on their record — family member, wife or girlfriend — and they will often kill a female family member, girlfriend or spouse as a preamble to the mass shooting, as did the Dayton shooter and the Sandy Hook shooter.
Dayton shooter, Betts, killed nine people and injured twenty seven others. The Shooting lasted just 32 seconds. “City leaders said a number of police officers were already in the area where Betts is alleged to have opened fire, allowing for a quick response,” according to Yahoo! News. “If they hadn’t been nearby, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Police Chief Richard Biehl speculated the death toll would have been much, much higher.”
Among the dead was Betts’ sister, 22-year-old Megan. “The two rode together to the Oregon District, the scene of the shooting,” USA Today reports. A passenger who traveled with them was also injured by the gunfire. Megan Betts seemed not to have known anything of what her brother had planned.
Police say Betts was armed with a .223-caliber, high-capacity rifle with a pair of magazines that were each capable of holding 100 bullets. The shooter wore a bulletproof vest and mask, as well as hearing protection. CNN reports the rifle was ordered online from Texas, then transferred to a local gun dealer before being acquired by Betts. A second weapon, a shotgun, was found nearby in Betts’ car.
While in high school, Betts reportedly kept a list of students he wanted to kill and a separate list of girls he wanted to rape, two former classmates told The Associated Press. Betts disappeared from campus for a short time after police were notified about the list, but ultimately he returned following an investigation. Officials with Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Schools declined to discuss the lists and how the district dealt with them. Still, the AP notes, nothing that turned up in a routine background check would have prevented Betts from buying guns and ammunition.
This is the source of the so-called ‘girlfriend law’ currently being proposed by Democratic candidates, whereby a male with a serious domestic abuse incident or other female-focused violence on their record are prevented from purchasing or owning guns, especially weapons of mass destruction like the automatic or semi-automatic military-style assault weapons used in most mass shootings.
Update: the ‘Girlfriend Law’ proposed by Democrat lawmakers in 2019 that would prohibit violent males who’ve ‘warmed up’ by aggressing against girlfriends, spouses or family members from purchasing firearms, mentioned above, was voted down by Republicans in the Senate, so never became law.
