A white gunman fatally shot three Black people at a store in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday afternoon, and as Sheriff T.K. Waters explained to reporters, there doesn’t appear to be any doubts as to the shooter’s motivations. “This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people,” the sheriff said at a news conference. From the NBC News report:
The shooter, who wore a tactical vest and was armed with an AR-style rifle and Glock handgun, had left messages for his parents, the media and federal law enforcement officials detailing racial hatred, Waters said. The firearms were marked in white pen with swastikas. ... The “AR-style” rifle, or a long gun in the style of the AR-15, is commonly used in mass shootings.
It’s also worth noting that the same NBC News report added that the shooter had previous interactions with law enforcement, including being involved in a 2016 call about a domestic disturbance. A year later, the gunman was subject to the Baker Act, which provides “emergency services and temporary detention for up to 72 hours for mental health examination” if, among other criteria, there’s reason to believe a person is mentally ill and because of mental illness “has refused voluntary examination.”
He nevertheless had an AR-style rifle and Glock handgun, which he used to shoot three strangers, before the gunman turned one of his weapons against himself.
There is a federal dimension to the attack: The FBI has already opened a federal civil rights investigation and is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. It was against that backdrop that President Joe Biden added the investigation was treating the shooting as a possible “act of domestic violent extremism.”
“Even as we continue searching for answers, we must say clearly and forcefully that white supremacy has no place in America,” Biden said in a statement. “We must refuse to live in a country where Black families going to the store or Black students going to school live in fear of being gunned down because of the color of their skin. Hate must have no safe harbor. Silence is complicity and we must not remain silent.”
It wasn’t long before Republicans hoping to replace the president started weighing in. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, went to a vigil for the victims, where he faced heckling.
The Miami Herald reported that the GOP governor spoke briefly, calling the shooter a “scumbag” and describing the attack as “totally unacceptable.” DeSantis added that “help is on the way.”
He did not address the fact that his administration has taken steps to eliminate firearm safeguards in Florida, including signing a permitless carry measure earlier this year, allowing Floridians to carry a concealed loaded weapon without a permit or training. The same measure, which also did away with background checks and fees for a concealed weapons license, took effect in the Sunshine State last month.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, meanwhile, appeared on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” and condemned the slayings as “an act of evil.” In terms of policy solutions, Indiana Republican added, “I’m calling for an expedited federal death penalty for anyone engaged in a mass shooting.”
By all appearances, a proposal like this one is predicated on the idea that would-be mass shooters might be deterred by new federal laws related to capital punishment. In other words, the former vice president believes there might be well-armed people out there thinking, “I’m inclined to shoot people, but if I’m caught and arrested, I’ll be subject to an ‘expedited’ death penalty, so I better not do that after all.”
Of course, the fact that the shooter in Jacksonville shot himself — as many gunmen who commit mass murders often do — reinforces one of the more obvious flaws with such an approach.
As for Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican entrepreneur sat down with NBC News’ Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press,” and when asked about the mass shooting, the candidate said, “I don’t think we should politicize this.”
By all accounts, the gunman wrote a political manifesto and put swastikas on his firearms. Is it really that outrageous to think the murders have already been “politicized”?
The number of GOP presidential candidates, meanwhile, who responded to the murders by endorsing new measures to address gun violence was zero. This keeps happening, it's all but certain to happen again.