We are told by Trumplicans that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. They say that mental illness is the problem, but very few citizens have a mental illness that is dangerous to them or others. What we do have is a small percentage of permanently dangerous people known as psychopaths.
Are psychopaths just part of the normal gene distribution? A psychopaths is a person afflicted with a chronic disorder with violent social behavior. In other words a person who needs to kill or inflict pain on animals and especially people.
About 1.2% of U.S. adult men and 0.3% to 0.7% of U.S. adult women are considered to have clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits. Those numbers rise exponentially in prison, where 15% to 25% of inmates show these characteristics (Burton, B., & Saleh, F. M., Psychiatric Times, Vol. 37, No. 10, 2020).
There are probably many that just appear to have a bad temper, probably.
With guns, especially AR-15 rifles, so available, is it surprising that America has vast numbers of mass shooting? Trumplicans say it is a basic right of every American to own and use a gun if they want. I guess we just must accept that thousands will die or be maimed so that Trumplicans can have their guns.
If 1% of men, especially young men are violent will take the opportunity to kill and be killed by police. They will finally be recognized as being important.
Lesser psychopaths may stay with torturing animals. Some male psychopaths enjoy raping women, not for the sex but for the feeling of power. Some seek political power or wealth so they can get away with abusing women with impunity.
Here are a few of examples:
Jeffrey Epstein used wealth and fame.
Bill Clinton used the presidential desk.
Donald Trump used wealth, fame and the presidency. And a big mouth to brag.
Now what happens when a psychopaths gains political and military power, without any democracy restraints – WAR. Look at Putin in Russia and Basher al-Assad of Syria.
Mohammed Deif head of the military wing of Hamas. He has sent hundreds of young men on suicide missions. His latest thrill was the brutal, immoral attack on Israeli citizens on October 7th.
When a person demonstrates these dangerous traits, we can’t afford to put them in a position of power now or ever again. Some of our political leaders enjoy inflicting pain. They want Israel to kill or maim as many people in Gaza as possible using revenge as the rationale.
But revenge against whom? Half the population of Gaza are under 16. Few of them were involved. Gaza is one of the most densely packed areas in the world.
It is the military wing of Hamas that must be targeted, but they will be hard to get without innocents getting killed. As a democracy, Israel must try to avoid hurting the innocents. It is their religious and moral thing to do. Most people in Gaza were abused and used by Hamas and they will be abused by Israel.
The reality is that killing causes more revenge killing. There is no such thing as group justice when innocents pay the price for the killers. There is only individual justice where the killer is killed. Those soldiers on both sides that kill innocents will be murders for the rest of their lives.
What would happen if Israel secretly gave out a thousand pistols to Gazians who were not in Hamas? Would they be used to shoot at Israelis or would they be used to rid Gaza of Hamas?