I’ve written a few times about the fetishization of firearms by men who, on some level, see guns as extensions of their penises and therefore an aggressive display of virility (or their lack thereof). Writing for The Washington Post, Charlotte Childress and Harriet Childress, bring up an excellent point:
When white men try to divert attention from gun control by talking about mental health issues, many people buy into the idea that the United States has a national mental health problem, or flawed systems with which to address those problems, and they think that is what produces mass shootings.
But women and girls with mental health issues are not picking up semiautomatic weapons and shooting schoolchildren. Immigrants with mental health issues are not committing mass shootings in malls and movie theaters. Latinos with mental health issues are not continually killing groups of strangers.
What’s the common denominator in too many of the mass shootings here? White men.