We need a better strategy. Treatment requires diagnosis and participation. Both are problematic. Denying access to guns is a half measure as it relies on them getting them by legal means only and let’s face it, it’s too easy to get them illegally in this country. Besides, there are lots of ways to kill and maim on a large scale besides guns. These men just aren’t particularly creative. You can’t just arrest someone for thinking evil. That’s not how justice works. And since most of these guys don’t act until they’re ready to “matyr” themselves, any kind of law enforcement is really just a clean up detail of collecting up the bodies, mapping out the specifics of the attack, identification, and notifying the families. None of which will stop it from happening again.

I’m not saying I have an answer here. Frankly, it’s not even a modern problem. There have been violent femicides throughout history — every time resources get scarce, sooner or later some or all of the men who live alongside us lose their damn shit and go on a killing spree. It even occurs in lesser primate species. Though for them, they tend to not target females specifically.

I suspect there will be much more of this to come. The pandemic and economic crash are going to drive up mass incidents. And many many more prominent women and other marginalized will be targeted.

I’m not saying we accept it as inevitable or as a certain loss that we just have to live with. I’m not saying I have any answers. Well, not any good ones that people would be willing to live with either. I’m saying we need to change our thinking on response to these crimes, and come up with something better and more effective than gun control, treatment, or the arrests pre-crime.