The gunman was horrendously bullied at school. It's one of the underrated and underreported...

Bumbles · 56-60, M

So true, all the way back to Gavrilo Princip, the Bosnian Serb student who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in 1914.

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Northwest · M

In some other country, they may go to a soccer match and try to toss a beer at the opposing team.

In the US, all they have to do is pick up a semi-auto military rifle, from their parents collection, or buy one.

Gets weirder:

Investment giant BlackRock is pulling an ad that included Thomas Crooks, the gunman who shot at Donald Trump, injuring the former president and killing an attendee at a rally near Pittsburgh on Saturday.

“In 2022, we ran an ad featuring a teacher from Bethel Park High School, in which several unpaid students briefly appeared in the background, including Thomas Matthew Crooks,” a spokesperson for the company said Sunday. “We will make all video footage available to the appropriate authorities, and we have removed the video from circulation out of respect for the victims.”

The 30-second video focused on a teacher at the high school, with Crooks sitting in class. The video went viral on X and other social media platforms Sunday.

BlackRock said the assassination attempt on former President Trump was “abhorrent” and is “thankful” that he wasn’t seriously injured.

“As our leadership team communicated to colleagues last night, BlackRock strongly condemns political violence of any kind and will do our part to promote civility and unity in the country,” the company said.

BlackRock is a major investor in gun companies, including Sturm Ruger and American Outdoor Brand, the owner of Smith & Wesson.

In quarterly earnings reported Monday, the world’s largest money manager said its assets under management had swollen to a record $10.6 trillion.

smiler2012 · 61-69

@Burnley123 🤷‍♂️whatever his political feelings where his frustration got the better of him too take a drastic action or was this the action of a metally sick person that we will never now ever find out

kittee · 26-30

wellmaybe trumpy will cool his rhetoric, relaising now that ythere are reactions

kittee · 26-30

also if there wer eno ar 15's he wouldnt have been able to do this,

AthrillatheHunt · 51-55, M

This is the way it has been in every society since the beginning of time . A small group of alienated young men can cause a lot of social havoc .

NerdyPotato ·

That's only the start of the discussion though. It raises two other questions:

1) What is society going to do about bullying?
2) Why do bullied people in other countries not turn to high profile and/or mass shootings?

Richard65 · M

So, why do you think he targeted Trump in particular? I don't see this as a nihilistic Catcher in the Rye scenario or he'd have gone for Biden. Unless he was just after some kind of notoriety.

Shadyglow · F

hurtful people were all unjustly abused as children.

cd4259 · 61-69, M

And both of his parents are therapists and still didn't see the warning signs in their own son.

Heartlander

We've come a long way since our neighborhood schools. Too long a way :(

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

Someone else on another website said that he was also FAS.

Roundandroundwego · 61-69

Guns and bullying are definitely permanent features of the USA. Nobody can hope to be NATO s working forces without conscience unless you're a brutal ship show everywhere, every day! You are, you really really are!

Pitchblue

Did Siran Siran fire the shot? This guy is another scapegoat in a long list of Americans.

NativePortlander1970 · 51-55

So was I because of being a husky runt, but I also fought back, they never learned their lessons, specially when we had dodgeball on rainy days.