A Familiar Pattern?

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It may be too soon for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conclude that the slaughter in San Bernardino was an act of Islamic terrorism, but if so it is also too soon for President Obama to suggest, as he did, that “The one thing we do know is that we have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.” For the killings at San Bernardino may well be something other than what the President suggests has been the pattern.

The familiar pattern is of a mentally ill person who got his hand on firearms and went on a terrible rampage. This is what happened at Newtown, Aurora, Tucson, and Blacksburg, among others. What is has been unfolding at San Bernardino, by contrast, involves two Muslims who are married and armed with military gear and whose slaughter is being greeted with joy among our Islamist enemies, who are exulting that America is burning.

That would not be not the first time Islamist terror was implicated. There is, most famously, also Fort Hood, where a Muslim doctor, Major Nidal Malik, who had been exchanging email with Anwar Awlaki and other Islamists, slew 13. But it does not appear to be the normal pattern, and it was an error of judgment for Mr. Obama to rush out and suggest it is. It was an error that appears to be animated by a highly ideological commitment to gun control.

This has gotten so bad that the New York Times rushed out an editorial this morning that actually blames Paul Ryan for calling, in the wake of the killings at Colorado Springs, for supporting a bill to expand mental health services. The Times seems to think that trying to identify and treat mentally ill persons who might go on a rampage is a smokescreen to avoid infringing on rights the Second Amendment prohibits the government from infringing.

No wonder Americans are arming themselves at record rates. They bought more guns on the first day of the holidays shopping season this year than on any single day in history. There were 185,345 background checks sought November 27. Some police authorities are starting to encourage Americans to arm themselves. “More guns, fewer problems” is the way CBS News sums up the views of Detroit’s police chief, James Craig. It seems there’s more than one way to react to whatever pattern is emerging.


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