It's not the gun's fault
Once again a mass killer's family, friends and even the FBI ignored multiple warning signs.
According to his older brother, 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was severely mentally ill.
He was a paranoid, anti-social and violent man.
This fact is being completely ignored by the post-tragedy opportunists.
Instead, anti-gun politicians and the media want us to blame the murderer’s AR pistol for the Boulder massacre, which claimed 10 lives, and not the man who pulled the trigger, who now faces 10 counts of first-degree murder.
To be clear, they want you to believe it’s the gun’s fault.
Why?
Because for them, this tragic loss of life is an opportunity, and they will never, ever let an opportunity go to waste.
Most took their cue from the President himself, who quickly called on Congress to ban similar weapons, and then threatened to issue more executive orders.
Lost in the ensuing media circus was any discussion about what actually caused the mass killing, which was Alissa’s mental illness, not his gun.
According to his brother, there were multiple warning signs a tragedy was coming, but as we’ve seen before, no one put the pieces together and took action.
Not even the FBI — Alissa was on their radar — did anything to prevent the tragedy.
Their own federal background check system could have alerted agents that Alissa had purchased a gun.
History of mental illness
According to his brother, Alissa first exhibited signs of paranoia at the age of 14, when he covered his computer camera with tape and complained he was being followed
"He always suspected someone was behind him, someone was chasing him," Ali Alissa told CNN. "We kept a close eye on him when he was in high school. He would say, 'Someone is chasing me, someone is investigating me.' And we're like, 'Come on man. There's nothing.' ... He was just closing into himself."
Alissa posted about his paranoia on his now-shuttered Facebook page.
"Just curious what are the laws about phone privacy because I believe my old school was hacking my phone," Alissa wrote in a March 18, 2019, Facebook post.
One year earlier, then 18-year-old Alissa was arrested for severely beating a high school classmate — sitting astride his victim and pummeling him in the head.
He was sentenced to a year’s probation and community service for the assault.
Just two days before the mass shooting, Alissa’s sister-in-law saw him “playing” with the AR pistol.
According to Alissa’s arrest report:
“Alissa was seen playing with a gun she thought looked like a 'machine gun' about 2 days ago. She did not believe the gun looked like the rifles she has seen in old Western movies. . . . Alissa had been talking about having a bullet stuck in the gun and was playing with the gun."
Despite what she had seen, the woman, who was not named in the court document, took no action.
Another mass shooter on the FBI’s radar
As we’ve seen before, Alissa was known to senior law enforcement officials.
According to the New York Times:
The suspect’s identity was previously known to the F.B.I. because he was linked to another individual under investigation by the bureau, according to law enforcement officials.
No other information was reported.
The FBI has not commented publicly about what they knew or didn’t know.
Takeaways
Alissa had purchased his AR pistol days before the massacre — after he passed a background check.
As much as they tout their effectiveness, even anti-gun politicians have to admit that a background check can only tell what a person has done. They will never be able to predict what someone will do.
The tragedy also shows the futility of red-flag laws — Colorado has one of the most stringent —but it, too, was never used.
In my humble opinion, there is no law that will ever be able to prevent a bad man from doing bad things.
The best we can hope for is that this horrible loss of life will spur someone to come forward in the future, if they see their loved one heading down a similar path.
As always, thanks for your time.
Lee
I will not be stripped of my God given rights to protect my family with firearms, by people that have a wall and soldiers protecting them. I will not comply.
When certain Demographics are offended, they take to the streets by the thousands. Their action has spurred major policy shifts. You and I both know that major infringement upon our constitutional rights is coming. Where are the gun owners? Why haven't 100k+ gun owners descended upon Florida's Capitol DEMANDING our state be protected from federal legislative over reach? Tell Governor Desantis that Florida wants nothing to do with the coming gun bans. WE THE PEOPLE are the only defenders of liberty. Not elected officials. Not the Constitution. WE THE PEOPLE.