The Lancet medical journal has continued its leftist crusade, blaming recent mass shootings in the United States on a supposed normalization of racism by the Trump administration.
“The far right and the Trump administration have fomented and normalised white nationalist sentiment and entitlement with anti-immigrant rhetoric, which is amplified by conservative media and then consumed by the disenfranchised,” stated an editorial Friday in the journal.
“The First Amendment (protecting free speech) and the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) have become weaponised and mass shootings are one of the byproducts,” the U.K.-based magazine alleges.
In its diatribe, the Lancet makes a series of factually incorrect statements regarding positions supposedly held by conservative Americans.
“Republicans and the National Rifle Association (NRA) continue to propound unfettered access to firearms as an expression of liberty,” the journal claims in its caricature, “stymieing legislation prohibiting high-capacity firearms, challenging universal background checks, and opposing extreme protection orders temporarily removing firearms from those deemed at risk.”
In point of fact, Republicans and the NRA do not propose “unfettered” access to firearms nor do they oppose extreme protection orders to remove firearms from high-risk, mentally unstable individuals.
A 2013 poll of NRA members found, for instance, that 90.7 percent of members favor “reforming our mental health laws to help keep firearms out of the hands of people with mental illness.” A substantial majority (86.4 percent) said that strengthening laws this way would be more effective at preventing mass murders than banning semi-automatic rifles.
In recent debates, NRA leadership has made it clear they support extreme risk-protection orders (ERPOs), as long as the measure effectively protects both Second Amendment rights and due-process rights.
“The NRA believes that any effort should be structured to fully protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens while preventing truly dangerous individuals from accessing firearms,” the group states in its website.
In its “analysis” of recent shootings, the Lancet does not stop with its incrimination of the Trump administration and the Republican party. It also offers a psychological profile of shooters, mixing well-known facts with suppositions:
The epicentre of nearly every mass shooting in the USA is a man. In the forensic unpacking, the shared characteristics of shooters—misogyny, alienation, and hate—emerge. Angry and socially disengaged, he finds solace in racist or extremist ideologies online. Rejected by females, he identifies as an involuntary celibate or “incel,” he demeans women and blames minorities, threatening violence.
It is unclear how Connor Betts, for example, the Dayton shooter, fits the psychological portrayal of shooters sketched by the Lancet.
Betts described himself instead as a leftist; he praised socialism, defended immigrants, and supported Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. He was also a Satanist and his Twitter bio read, “I’m going to hell and I’m not coming back.”
Nothing in Betts’ biography indicates any sort of xenophobia or racism, but he did express hatred for the police and sympathy for violent antifa protesters who assault conservatives.
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