No military record found, so my guess was probably wrong. The testimony given by his brother seems to indicate that this really was some sort of aberration in his behavior and that he wasn't political or affiliated with ideology.
He evidently was a DoD contractor for 3 years, or rather, he worked for a DoD contractor for 3 years in the 1980's, which doesn't necessarily mean he actually did anything specifically for DoD.
Brother indicated he(the shooter) was rather apolitical previously(and still was to his knowledge-however good/current that knowledge may be), ditto on the religious front. Could still turn into a "was politically neutral until the events surrounding the Trump election, at which point 'he became active'" and for whatever reason(known (to him) leanings of family?) didn't communicate this with his siblings.
That said, not every family is particularly close knit, or particularly communicative with each other about things, or even most things. So I'm not going to rely too heavily on statements to the press from a single immediate family member.
Given he was 30+ floors up from the crowd, that eliminates the, "If only open carry was more prevalent", argument.
He was shooting from the 32nd floor from the press account I just read. Someone on the ground level and 100+ yards away is going to have a hard time returning fire with a hand gun. (And would endanger a large number of people in the building near the shooter)
Also, while I can't say what falls under the "assault weapon" umbrella as you are using the term, it is no small matter to acquire a fully automatic weapon.
Recalling from memory, but the press account I just read(which cited Fox News) says he had multiple(legally obtained) AR-15's, which had subsequently used "conversion kits" on to make automatic(evidently illegal to perform without the right paperwork according to a quick Google search, but the kits themselves seem to exist in a legal loophole, which makes them easy to obtain). He also evidently had other equipment also in his possession as well.
His brother only knew about the one gun which wasn't a handgun.
No chance of a PTSD-like problem? Remind me again how "American Sniper" Chris Kyle's story ended.
Perhaps not doing too well on Routh, we'll see how you do on this guy.
He had been struggling for years with what doctors had diagnosed as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, though his symptoms suggested he was suffering from a more serious mental illness. He would later tell a forensic psychologist that he believed his coworkers at a cabinet shop were cannibals who planned to eat him.
link
My limited understanding is that people who suffer from PTSD are more likely than others to lash out violently, but its more of a spontaneous thing and often due to some kind of provocation or general environmental cue.
Yeah, my understanding of things is that the PTSD "type" trends more towards being "triggery" in the sense that certain things(or lists of things) can "set them off" and cause them to respond in any of a broad range of ways depending the nature of the cause and what their profession was. Which is where you get stories of the PTSD Vietnam vet who'd have a nightmare and nearly kill their spouse by reflex when being awakened from that (nightmare) state. Or simply crumbling into a gibbering heap in other cases. Anything from a flash of light(bomb blast), to a sudden loud sound(which can compare to either explosions or gunfire), or even
smells can trigger a traumatic memory flashback with corresponding response and those are just the more common manifestations.
But for this shooter, it is highly unlikely we're talking about a combat related trauma with what is known about him. And the nature of this shooting also goes well beyond the scope of any "normal" response that would be expected from PTSD alone. There'd have to be at least a few other mental disorders also in play, which doesn't appear to be the case here at this time.
Given that it was a Country Music Festival and country music fans "have a reputation of trending strongly towards conservatisim" Going to put decent odds(better than 60%) on AntiFa or simply some other flavor of unhinged left-wing nutjob(Washington DC shooting). As they've evidently ID'd the shooter, I'm sure more will be unearthed shortly.
Shooter was just described on WaPo as someone who enjoyed country music, so that may be out.
Just because he enjoyed country music doesn't mean he was particularly conservative. I mean hey, The Dixie Chicks weren't exactly icons of conservatism 10+ years ago. Although they did basically destroy their domestic fan base when they spoke out against Bush(43) how they did. Some country artists are more openly political than others. The country singer performing at the time of the shooting doesn't have anything on wiki to indicate his politics, and I'm not inclined to dig very hard on that front, although the shooter may have done so--and thus concluded anyone attending his concerts were "the enemy."
It's funny how we all (myself included) naturally have this urgent need to fit the shooter onto "not my team". As if this person is representative anyways.
I'm more going for the refrain that's been getting harped on for a while now. When the (extreme)left-wing isn't getting what it wants, it tends to get violent quickly(even against their own--Gabby Gifford's). Trump is stirring up the left like nothing we've ever seen before. "The Left" as a whole, has stepped up their rhetoric in response, and has moved into rather incendiary comments at points in time which can be taken as incitations to violence against their opposition. So thus I gave "a better than 60% chance" of this ultimately linking back to the political left.
As this doesn't quite strike me as "an (international) Islamic style attack" (although they may now try to duplicate it) that the calculus as to "which political slant would target a country music event?" Left it as a question of probability or right wing vs left wing. With "Country" typically viewed as being "conservative" that tilted the odds in favor of left-wing violence, particularly in light of other recent events over the past year. But as I know there are liberals/Democrats on the country scene as well, I cannot completely rule out it being a right-winger either, thus the 60/40-ish split.
That the attacker is "mentally unhinged" in some way kind of went without saying. While I will agree with other statements that a rational person can eventually reach a point where killing becomes "justified" I don't think anyone(in "the reasonably sane" category) thinks we're anywhere near the point of killing random people at entertainment venues is a rational decision that will further any kind of agenda except fear/terror. In that respect, the DC shooting was positively rational compared to this one, at least he targeted ranking government officials "on the other side." And that shooter was still freaking crazy.
