It's not true that this had nothing to do with radical jihad. It's clear now that he was watching a lot of online jihadist videos. Sermons, propaganda, and he was even seeking out beheading videos. IMO this insistence on everything be black or white, he was ISIL/radical islamic propaganda had no play here, is just so stupid. It's important we know the truth. To help prevent further incidents like this. Saving lives is what matters, not winning a message board debate on JPP, where 11 people post and 4 of them would be announced clinically dead if they were ever hooked up to an EEG.
He appears, at this point, to be the perfect storm. He is who ISIL is targeting. It's a known fact that ISIL cannot successfully pull off an operation within our borders, and that they have long been releasing propaganda videos encouraging "lone wolves" who are already in our country, many born here, to act. The targets are the angry, the disenfranchised, the mentally ill.
This guy appears to have been a closet homosexual whose father hated gays. His life is marked with violence against women, angry outbursts against coworkers, stalking, threats, etc. If he did not have a Muslim background he could be Dylan Roof or any other mass killer in our history. He would have popped off no matter what. But he was Muslim and he did seek out and view quantities of jihadist propaganda. He is the FBI's worst nightmare - the self-radicalized lone wolf. I accept that because I want to solve that. We'll never stop them all, but we can stop some, maybe many.
There are so MANY contributing factors here. There is radical islamic propaganda, there is homophobia, there is repressed homosexuality, there is misogyny, there is racism, there is mental illness. I mean, this is a cocktail.
There is one thing that stands out. A man with a long history of beating women, threatening co-workers, making radical statements that indicated an sympathy with radical jihadism, a man who was on the terrorist watch list for a time, and was questioned several times by the FBI etc, was able to easily and without question purchase an assault rifle.
It's time to take on the NRA. Those motherfuckers are terrorists. They are American terrorists. Start with passing the legislation that every Republican save one, voted down, that would prevent those on the terrorist watch list from buying guns. (there is an appeal process if you have been wrongly placed on there). Bring back the assault weapon ban. This is common sense. It's common sense. And backed by large majorities of americans of BOTH political parties, no matter what crazy shit you read online, including on here. An American terrorist organization has subverted the will of the people and prevented these common sense laws, that would save lives, from being passed. Yet the righties, who are sick in the head, will go all over talking about banning Muslims. Clearly un-American, clearly unconstitutional. Then they will tell you an assault weapons ban, which passed numerous court challenges when we had one, is unconstitutional. And if you swallow that? Hello dummy.