Now that I have taken a couple of breaths and had a good emotional rant, here is a reasoned thought.
What we have here is a kid who was probably bullied and made fun of as a young child. Maybe he truly always felt like he was born the wrong gender (IMO there are people who are born wired that way, though not in the numbers we currently are experiencing) and being effeminate looking was harassed.
Probably didn’t have many real friends in a small-ish town, anonymity is often a luxury. All of the people he considered “friends” were on social media and he had never met them.
It sounds like his family life wasn’t exactly all that great…grandfather was a Felon and mother seems like she was emotionally distant.
This incident highlights not guns, mental illness or even Federal government incompetency…it highlights the importance of the family!
A lot of us got bullied in school. I was a tom-boy and played football with the boys instead of jump rope with the girls (though I could do that too). I was tall (when I was younger) and skinny and my mother made me wear my hair short; a late bloomer.
But, you know, when I came home, it was a refuge, a safe place, a place where I was loved and told I could be whatever I wanted to be because I was driven and smart and had God given talents.
Sometimes I didn’t like the rules. Sometimes, I felt like I wasn’t good enough. My parents weren’t perfect. Who’s are? But, I always knew, no matter what I was or what I did, I would be loved. (they might not always like what I did or approved of choices I made but, still loved me).
How many children these days have that? I wasn't shuffled between homes. I didn't have a sperm donor for a father. They might not have been "in love" with each other anymore but, they stuck it out for my brother and I and made it work (my father was killed when I was 17). They did not argue in our presence or say derogatory things to us about each other. Their number one responsibility was not to their egos but, to us. I had Aunts and Uncles and cousins that interacted with me. I spent time with my only surviving grandparent, learning from her. I spent time with my father learning from him and time with my mother learning from her. Family, not peers was my main environment.
THE FAMILY UNIT IS WHAT MAKES MOST OF US STAY SANE!!!! Family is where we first learn to work out differences and disagreements with other people. Family is where we first learn to deal with emotions and can honestly vent. Family is the first place we turn to for help when we are getting overwhelmed.
Family is the first place we learn to love and to be loved.
It is, and has been under attack now by liberal/Communist/Socialist ideas for at least three generations….
IMO THAT is the ROOT cause of many of these kinds of tragedies…not guns, not mental illness! The breakdown of the family, the negation of responsibilities and self sacrifices that come with being a parent is the poison we have all been given.