Gun Violence Hits Home

© David Burton 2021

     I live in a very small town on the coast of Massachusetts, just north of Boston. Winthrop is not a “small” town in terms of our population (about 19,000), but its land-area of just 1.6 square miles makes it the second-smallest town in Massachusetts. Residents of the town often think of the compact, peninsula community as the equivalent of the old TV show Cheers - a place where everybody knows your name - that is isolated from big-city problems.[1] Events of interest to the rest of the state or the country occur very infrequently here. But, on a warm Saturday afternoon late in June of 2021, my home town made the headlines – here in Massachusetts and nationally around the U.S.

Shootings in a Small, Quiet New England Town

     Late on Saturday afternoon, 26 June 2021, an Associated Press news flash reported: “A man crashed a stolen truck into a building before fatally shooting two people and being shot by police in the Boston suburb of Winthrop on Saturday, police said.
     “The suspected gunman has also died, Massachusetts State Police Spokesman Dave Procopio said in an email.
     “Authorities believe the suspect crashed a truck he had stolen from a plumbing and drain company into a building before emerging from the truck and shooting a man and a woman, Procopio said. They were both killed.
     “ ‘We are investigating whether the male may have been trying to engage the suspect to end the threat,’ Procopio said.
     “Police arrived ‘within moments’ and shot the suspect, who has also died, Procopio said. Procopio said state police is not releasing any further information at this time.
     “A Winthrop police spokesman said earlier Saturday that one officer was taken to the hospital for an evaluation, but was not seriously injured.” (Ref. 2)

Racial Violence and Anti-Semitism

     The day following the shooting, Sunday, 27 June, additional information was made public.

     “A retired Massachusetts State Police trooper and an Air Force veteran were killed by a gunman in Winthrop on Saturday. The shooter, who officials say used white supremacist language, was shot and killed by police.
     “State Police Col. Christopher Mason identified the male victim as David L. Green, {68,} who retired from state police in 2016 and worked in law enforcement for nearly 40 years. He was shot four times in the head, and three times in the torso.
     “ ‘Trooper Green was widely respected and well-liked by his fellow Troopers, several of whom yesterday described him as a ‘true gentleman’ and always courteous to the public and meticulous in his duties,’ Mason said in a statement.
     “ ‘From what we learned yesterday, he was held in equally-high regard by his neighbors and friends in Winthrop.’
     “The female victim was identified by Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins as Ramona Cooper, 60, a Staff Sgt. in the Air Force who still worked for the military. She was shot three times in {the} back.
     “The gunman, who was fatally shot by police, has been identified as 28-year-old Nathan Allen. Rollins said police have discovered ‘troubling white supremacist rhetoric’ written by Allen.
     “When asked whether the victims, who were Black, were targeted due to their skin color, Rollins said that Allen ‘walked by several other people that were not Black and they are alive. They were not harmed.’
     “ ‘This is a sad day,’ said Rollins. ‘These two people protected our rights. They fought for us to be safe and to have the opinions that we have, and they were executed yesterday.’
     “Authorities say Allen shot Green and Cooper after emerging from a truck he stole from a plumbing and drain company and crashed into a building on Saturday. Mason described the two as ‘innocent bystanders’ and said Green was shot outside his home.
     “A state police spokesperson said Saturday that officials are investigating whether Green ‘may have been trying to engage the suspect to end the threat.’
     “Green became a Metropolitan District Commission Police Officer in 1980 and later a state trooper when MDC Police merged into Massachusetts State Police, Mason said.
     “On Sunday, mourners gathered at the scene while some residents left flowers near the destroyed building, The Boston Globe reported.
     “Brian Marks, who owns the building that was destroyed, told the Globe that he was in ‘utter shock’ when he saw what happened Saturday.
     “ ‘I rushed down and came to what, to me, looked like something out of a movie or something,’ he said.
     “Bob Harrington, who lives across from the building, said he heard loud crashes, saw the man get out of the truck and walk down the street and then shortly after heard gunshots. He then saw a woman lying on the ground, he said.
     “Winthrop Police, Massachusetts State Police and the Suffolk Country District Attorney’s Office are investigating.” (Ref. 3)

     Another report the day following the shootings provided additional details. The article is summarized below.

     The shooting deaths of the Air Force veteran and a retired State Police trooper were being investigated as hate crimes, after officials found troubling antisemitic and racist statements against Black people written by their accused killer. The killer was armed with two handguns.
     The truck, which was stolen from a plumbing company, crashed into a home near the corner of Cross and Shirley streets shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday. The truck involved in the crash was owned by Rapid Flow Inc., a company with an address in Revere, an adjacent small coastal city just north of Winthrop.
     After destroying the building, the driver fled the truck, jumped over a fence, and shot the two a short distance from the wreck.
     During the subsequent police investigation, officials found “troubling white supremacist rhetoric” that were handwritten by the killer. The statements included antisemitic and racist statements against Black individuals. During the shooting rampage, the killer walked by several people who were not Black, and they were not harmed. Winthrop’s large and prominent Jewish Temple is located only a very short distance from the scene of the crime.
     Allen, the gunman, had recently moved into an apartment in the Governor’s Park condominiums complex, which was only a few blocks away from where he crashed the stolen truck and shot the two people. A woman living in Allen’s building said that he “seemed so nice, but there was something a little off about him.” She said he often sat outside the building, writing, as if he was “taking notes.” Allen was said to be a physical therapist who had earned his doctorate.
     The Winthrop police sergeant who was involved in the confrontation with the killer was credited with being “extremely heroic” during the incident. “He isolated a significant threat to this community, and ended that threat,” said the Winthrop Chief of Police. “It’s something we don’t wake up in the morning wishing to do.” The responding police sergeant was praised for “saving many more lives in Winthrop.”[4]

     As of 15 July 2021, there was no firm information released by the authorities that definitely indicated the dead gunman was headed to the nearby Jewish Temple Tifereth Israel. Also, while the gunman’s white supremacist rantings that were released disclosed his murderous hatred of Blacks, they contained no explicit anti-Semitic writings nor any specific threats against the Temple or Jews. In the killer's notebook, there were simply two hand-drawn swastikas.
     The information released up to 15 July indicates that Allen attended the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, where he graduated in 2014. According to his LinkedIn profile, Allen went on to earn a doctorate in physical therapy from MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2020 and worked as a caregiver at a nursing home, and as a rehabilitation technician.
     It is unclear at this time how Allen became radicalized, and when and why he legally obtained two handguns.[5]

White Supremacists

     Investigators “unearthed troubling white supremacy rhetoric and statements written by the shooter,” including on the “superiority of the white race” and whites being “apex predators.” Allen drew swastikas as well. the county district attorney characterized the killings as “executions,” noting both victims were shot multiple times.
     “There is a growing national, and global, problem with extremism and white supremacy,” said the local district attorney. She cited FBI reports and statements and said: “Racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists,” particularly white supremacists, are the nation’s most serious domestic violent extremist threat. “This shooter was married and employed. He had a Ph.D. and no criminal history. To all external sources he likely appeared unassuming. And then, yesterday afternoon he stole a box truck, crashed it into another vehicle and a property, walked away from the wreckage interacting with multiple individuals and choosing only to shoot and kill the two Black people he encountered.”[6]

     Allen was legally licensed to carry a firearm and he was reported to be traveling at twice the speed limit when he crashed. Authorities said they do not know where Allen was going, but the crime scene was very close to Winthrop’s large Jewish temple. [4]

Defund the Police???

     In August of 2020, I wrote the following: “In response to the mass hysteria sweeping the nation in regard to one supposed misdeed by one police officer in Minnesota, there is a mad rush to do something – anything – to appease or appear to appease the unthinking mob demanding the defunding or abolition of police departments. Throughout America, there is a frenzy of thoughtless proposed legislation and actions that – if carried out - would paralyze America’s police departments, force many brave and honest public servants to leave law enforcement, dissuade capable young men and women from making a career out of law enforcement, and contribute to more lawlessness and unrest.” (Ref. 7) How many more people might have been killed had the people of Winthrop listened to the irrational rhetoric of those calling for the defunding of its police department or for the elimination the Winthrop Police Department? Police in America are not a major problem that we should be worried about – criminals and the guns they use are! Rather than urging the defunding of those who protect and defend us every day, we should be supporting them and thanking them for protecting all of us at the risk of their own lives.

Liberal Tolerance of Criminal Behavior a Contributor

     The killer of the two innocent people in Winthrop, Massachusetts was stopped through the quick and heroic actions of members of the local Winthrop Police Department. How many other innocent people might have died if those rash cries to defund or eliminate the police after the George Floyd killing had been acted upon? One Los Angeles resident expressed his reaction to the irrational demands of so many unthinking liberals as the rioting and violence after the death of George Floyd was taking place in many of America’s cities.

     “My town’s not getting burned down because the rich coastal liberals with ‘Hate Has No Home Here’ signs on their exquisitely landscaped front yards will never put up with that nonsense here in Shangri-Lib.”
     Because we are nice people and we think all Americans should live in something like peace and prosperity, it’s hard to get through our heads that not all of our countrymen feel that way. The chaos, violence, and misery in which some Americans exist is actually their choice. It’s a choice that many liberals make, and they can make that choice because blue city voters inexplicably elect liberals who choose chaos.
     These same liberals tried giving people money. That failed. Astonishingly, handing people free cash did not magically make things better. Then they tried improving the economies in these places by importing a bunch of foreigners to take all the entry level jobs. Astonishingly, that did not work either. Their current experiment is to make the cities “woker” by not arresting criminals who make the cities unlivable and releasing the few who are in jail. And – you are not going to believe this – that has also made things worse.
     “About 29 years ago this week, a bunch of soldiers and I tried to make Los Angeles safe again for a few weeks when we deployed in the Rodney King riots. It was quite an interesting time for a suburban guy who never ventured into the tougher parts of South-Central to be rumbling through it with an M16A1 rifle and a basic load of ammo. I got an up-close look at the reality of liberal misrule, though it was largely obscured by flames.
     “The people of the inner city loved us. They did not dig the LAPD, but they loved the Guards' citizen-soldiers, particularly because many of our troops . . . were from the affected neighborhoods.”
     So, there is an answer to the violence. It’s called law and order. In extreme cases, like riots, it consists of massive, overwhelming force. But that’s a choice too, and one our liberal elite is not willing to make. They’d rather let the body count rise. They could end the murder spike tomorrow by backing the cops. They could. But they won’t.
     And their constituents are not ready to force them to, not until the violence gets intolerably bad (and American liberals can tolerate a lot), or until the thugs push their luck by pushing into the suburbs and scaring the Trader Joe’s chardonnay mommy set.
     To our ivory-tower liberals, dead people in the ghetto are a statistic. Crime in the rich suburbs? That’s a crisis.
     It’s all fun and games until it affects the white libs calling the shots. Word was that, during the riots, Beverly Hills – a liberal bastion – had its PD just shut the city off from people of color for a few days. If you had melanin, you weren’t getting in. And don’t hold your breath waiting for the Beverly Hills Police Department to be defunded even today.
     “So, the question is not whether we normal people should just let the cities burn. In fact, we have no say in it unless we mobilize and invade. That’s not happening anytime soon. No, the question is whether the liberal establishment will tolerate this crap, and the answer is that it will until it gets scared. But then, all bets are off.” [8]

Feel Good Reactions

     Immediately following the shootings of the two people in Winthrop, there was a rush to hold vigils and leave mementoes where they died. Like all such displays of grief after mass shootings, these actions will prove meaningless in preventing recurrences of such tragedies. As I indicate below, after many years of numerous gun violence tragedies, America, and primarily America’s duplicitous politicians have done absolutely nothing to end the mass shootings of innocent Americans. Instead of taking the high road and trying new and innovative approaches to ending the gun violence in this country, our cowardly politicians move their lips while continuing to bow to the gun toting crazies. Isn’t it time to try something untried and bold that might actually stop, or at least significantly reduce, the gun violence in this country? Isn’t it time to take the guns away from the violent? Isn’t it time to stop pretending that we are doing something positive when we actually only salve our consciences by placing flowers at the scene of the crime or by attending some pointless rally that allows the attendees to say: “Look at me. I’m here to sympathize with the victims and their family.” But will those attendees take any concrete action to end the gun violence that led to the deaths of the victims and that will most certainly claim still more lives?

     Here in Winthrop, the same old breast beatings took place. A vigil in memory of Green and Cooper was held at the Town Hall during the week after the shootings. And, as usual, makeshift memorials were placed at the scene of the truck crash, the victims’ homes and the alley where one of the victims was shot and killed. By Monday, messages of love, acceptance and declaration of “Black Lives Matter” were interspersed with the flowers and prayer cards at these locations.[9]

Extremism Escalating

     The killing of two African-Americans in Winthrop apparently by a lone-wolf extremist is an example of an escalating trend in nationwide white supremacist-inspired violence fueled by social media and political polarization.
     “Political leaders at the very top of our society actually encourage some of these right-wing fascist groups which has really emboldened them,” said a Northeastern University criminology professor.
     Instances of racist, anti-Semitic and other hateful messages have exploded in recent years. Nationwide, the number of reports doubled in 2020 when compared to the prior year. 2019 - the most recent year in which FBI data is available - was the deadliest year on record with 51 hate crime murders across the U.S. - a 113% increase over the previous record of 24 set in 2018. Total hate crime incidents rose to 7,314, marking the fourth increase in the past five years.
     Reports reveal that white supremacist propaganda is surging to all-time highs, the primary mode of delivery is across social media and the internet. People don’t necessarily need to join extremist groups to become radicalized. It happens quietly every day in chatrooms where white supremacist groups wield their influence and indoctrinate people to their beliefs. Some are moved to violence. Many white working-class Americans feel that they’re being replaced by people of color. They feel threatened in a number of different ways and they’re lashing out, mostly on their own to defend against perceived threats. Too frequently, it manifests as a rising number of attacks on Asian Americans, anti-Jewish rhetoric and messaging and, during the 24 June 2021 weekend, as the execution of two Black residents in Winthrop.[10]

Why?

     “Racial animosity is nothing new in America, but incidents of race-based hate crimes have been on the upswing in recent years, not only as to persons of color, but also against the Asian, Latino, Muslim, and Jewish communities.
     ‘Fueling the increase in race-based violence is the easy accessibility to military-grade weaponry that is becoming omnipresent in our country, where there are almost as many guns as people. The Winthrop shooter had obtained a license to carry a firearm from another police department and was armed with multiple weapons, providing him with the firepower to carry out his murderous spree.
     “Social media is playing a huge role in the radicalization of white men such as the Winthrop shooter. Social media has opened the doorway to the ideology of white supremacist groups for disgruntled and mentally-unstable individuals. Although the shooter reportedly had a Ph.D and was married, neighbors described behavior that was not normal for a 28 year-old man.
     “Finally, the economic dislocation being caused by the huge degree of income inequality in our country has left many people in a state of despair, which manifests itself either in self-destructive drug abuse or socially-destructive acts of violence.
     “None of this is meant to excuse hateful behavior - but it does provide an explanation for what is going wrong in America today.
     “The greatest threat to the safety of every American exists within our own country from white supremacist groups and individuals. Whether our nation is capable of facing up to the threat of these domestic terrorists will determine the fate of our democracy and our way of life.” (Ref. 11)

Gun Violence Escalating and America Still Does Nothing!

     People who knew the Winthrop gunman said he was a strong advocate for the Second Amendment and his Instagram account included pictures of an assault rifle and ammo.[12]

     Saturday afternoon, 26 June 2021, and just one more shooting in America. Does anyone really care? If we do, why haven’t we done anything about it? Mass shootings and gun violence are not new in America, and still the gun lovers have their way. There may be lots of talking by our politicians, but all that moves are their mouths! I’ve made my suggestions on what to do, the most recent being in 2019. What I wrote then and previously still holds true. Here’s a summary of what I said and proposed.

     Universal background screening will help, but will not stop the mass shootings. What the gun-crazies in America lobby for are more and deadlier guns on the streets of America. Arm the teachers, they offer up as a solution. Give every good person a gun to defend himself from the bad people, they tell us. They hand out the totally unsubstantiated canard that, arming every American citizen will put an end to gun violence, because then, the upright and honest gun owner will be able to defend himself by killing the armed and despicable criminals among us. The fact is, that only in a statistically slim percentage of cases, do armed civilians actually help thwart some sort of crime or act of violence. What these righteous firearms proponents won’t tell you is that, basically no armed citizen has ever stopped a mass shooting!.
     If you think more aggressive background checks will end mass shootings, you are totally naïve. Background checks would not have prevented a single mass public shooter in recent history from obtaining firearms. Would-be mass public shooters rarely have disqualifying criminal or mental health histories - meaning, they often can and do pass background checks when legally purchasing their firearms. CASE IN POINT -THE WINTHROP SHOOTER LEGALLY OBTAINED HIS GUN PERMIT!
     While written in 2012, the facts, some nine years later, remain unchanged. Good people with guns haven’t been able to put end to mass shootings in America. But, bad people with guns have committed all the mass shootings here in America.
     “While anecdotal evidence might make for compelling public relations, and there are indeed some circumstances where gun ownership saves someone's life, the statistics overall are very clear: more guns equals more gun deaths. Which is precisely why so many other countries throughout the world, admittedly unburdened by the 2nd Amendment, have taken legislative action to regulate and control them.”
     Universal background checks and red flag laws are nothing but diversionary tactics intended to distract honest people from insisting on the only practical solution to gun violence in America – get the guns off the streets!
     The calls for universal background checks and red flag laws are simply moves by the unthinking public, NRA-beholden politicians and gun-lovers to implement a feel-good move that will have little-to-no impact on gun violence in America. BUT, the disingenuous gun owners and their supporters want to appear to be taking action to stop the mass shootings while actually doing nothing of real significance to end the killings and maiming. Heaven forbid that anyone should have to give up their lethal toys!
     America is gun crazy. As of 2019, there were an estimated 400 million privately owned firearms in the United States, with somewhere between one-third and one-half of American households owning at least one gun. That's about 50 million more guns than the total population of these United States - men, women and children! I started addressing this problem in 2017, by writing, “Today, in the 21st century, the time has long since passed for repealing the outdated and irrelevant Second Amendment to the constitution and for instituting meaningful federal and state laws to put an end to the escalation of gun crimes in the United States.”
     Every time there is an attempt to institute meaningful gun control legislation and to end or, at least, to reduce the number of gun deaths, injuries and mass shootings, the gun owners, the gun lobby, and the plain gun nuts invoke the 2nd amendment, as if it was some law engraved on tablets of stone that was handed down from God and which is immutable, sacred and unchangeable. It’s time to refute such argument! The 2nd amendment is no such thing! Is is simply an amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. It was not even the first amendment to the Constitution and, let’s remember that the U.S. Constitution was not even the first set of rules to govern the newly independent Thirteen Colonies – the Articles of Confederation were! Also, let’s not lose sight of the fact that the Constitution was designed to be amended, i.e., changed, and that amendments to the Constitution can and have been repealed. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is not sacred and it is not sacrosanct – it can be changed and it can be repealed! The time has now arrived when it must be repealed!
     Following the 2018 synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh I said:
     To those mealy-mouthed politicians who are beholden to the NRA and the gun fanatics throughout America, guns are never the problem. According to these hypocrites, now is not the time to take really meaningful action. Instead they urge America to put more lethal weapons on our streets by enlisting a new horde of armed guards. That’s a bunch of B--- S--- !!!
     To these gun advocates, their solution is a return to the wild west of the 19th century, where every man totes a six-gun on his hip. To these gun lovers, their solution is to lock up every venue in the United States where more than a dozen people congregate and place an armed guard inside to ward off any potential attackers. Better yet, these American patriots would have the rest of us cower in homes to avoid being shot by some gun-wielding crazy, while they cavort around with their beloved guns shouting, “Guns are not the problem.” That is not the America in which I want to live!
     Repealing the Second Amendment and enacting laws to get rid of the weapons on the streets of America are the first two necessary steps to ending the senseless slaughtering of Americans with firearms. The remaining step is the passage of laws to severely punish all illegal activity associated with the use, possession or trafficking of guns. The gun fanatics must realize that sometimes citizens must give up certain perceived rights in order to benefit society as a whole. Unless and until our politicians stop spouting their blather and rhetoric and get serious about ending gun violence, the death toll from shootings will continue to spiral upward.
     Unless and until America decides that getting guns off its street and out of the hands of those who would do us harm supersedes gunowners’ perceived “right to own a gun” and unless and until America simply outlaws their possession, the spate of gun deaths in America will continue to grow.
     America, for Shame! We are long on words and short on actions. We sympathize, we mourn, we remember and we make unfulfilled promises – but still, we do nothing! For shame, America![13]

America, Let’s Finally Do Something Meaningful

     “Today, in the 21st century, the time has long since passed for repealing the outdated and irrelevant Second Amendment to the constitution and for instituting meaningful federal and state laws to put an end to the escalation of gun crimes in the United States.” Where do we start to end gun violence and mass shootings in America? We start by repealing the second amendment to the Constitution!
     Instead of placing flowers at the scene of gun violence or listening to platitudes at some post-shooting rally, let’s do something positive. How about contacting our representatives and senators and telling them we won’t support them, nor vote for them if they won’t push to:

• repeal the second amendment to the Constitution,
• ban the possession of all guns except by law enforcement, the military and those who need guns to protect the public, and
• enact laws to severely punish anyone who illegally possesses or traffics guns.

1. No Place in America Is Safe from Hatred & Violence, Winthrop Transcript, 1 July 2021.
2. Police: Man crashes stolen truck in Winthrop and fatally shoots 2, then is shot and killed by police,
   Associated Press, boston.com, 26 June 2021.
3. Winthrop shooting suspect used ‘troubling white supremacist rhetoric,’ ‘executed’ Black victims,
   Rami Abou-Sabe, boston.com, 27 June 2021.
4. Winthrop shootings investigated as hate crime; shooter ‘executed’ people of color, Rollins says Sunday,
   John Hilliard, msn.com, 27 June 2021.
5. Winthrop shooter Nathan Allen ‘likely appeared unassuming’ but wrote about whites as ‘apex predators,’ drew swastikas, District Attorney says, Benjamin Kail, msn.com, 28 June 2021.
6. Police Reform – Throwing Out the Baby with the Bath Water?, David Burton, Son of Eliyahu: Article 429,
   18 August 2020.
7. Should We Just Let It Burn?, Kurt Schlichter, Townhall, 29 April 2021.
8. ‘troubling rhetoric’, Benjamin Kail, Boston Herald; Page 5, 29 June 2021.
9. Slays illustrate lone-wolf white supremacist violence, Erin Tiernan, Boston Herald; Page 5, 29 June 2021.
10. The Tragic Shooting in Winthrop Shows All That Is Wrong In America, Chelsea Record, 1 July 2021.
11. Winthrop Neighbors Stunned By Revelations About Man Who Killed 2 Black Residents, Simón Rios,
    WBUR News, 30 June 2021.
12. Gun Fanatics Using Trojan Horses to Keep Their Deadly Toys, David Burton, Son of Eliyahu: Article 375,
    30 August 2019.
13. Man, 28, who shot and killed two black bystanders in Massachusetts after stealing a box truck and slamming it into another car was 'fueled by white supremacy', DA says, Adam Schrader and Snejana Farberov, DailyMail.com,
    9 July 2021.