Colorado Shooter Was Outspoken Advocate for Gun Control, Left-Wing Politics

Friends say his views were "outside the mainstream"

The teenage gunman who entered Arapahoe High School on Friday afternoon and shot two fellow students with a shotgun was outspoken about politics, was a gifted debater and might have been bullied for his beliefs, according to students who knew him. …

"I was wondering to all the neoclassicals and neoliberals, why isn't the market correcting itself?" he wrote. "If the invisible hand is so strong, shouldn't it be able to overpower regulations?"

Pierson also appears to mock Republicans on another Facebook post, writing "you republicans are so cute" and posting an image that reads: "The Republican Party: Health Care: Let 'em Die, Climate Change: Let 'em Die, Gun Violence: Let 'em Die, Women's Rights: Let 'em Die, More War: Let 'em Die. Is this really the side you want to be on?"

Comments

[fish_remote]

Sorry the kid is dead but every time someone who twists off....and isn't found found with a Bastiat, Hayek, and Von Mises section in his library and a subscription to Reason magazine I'm quietly buoyed!

[PH2050]

Right? I was waiting to hear that he was found with "anti-government" literature on his person and made public comments about fiat currency.

[fish_remote]

The poor Tonys of this world, track shoes on, in the blocks, ready to launch the "you guys are horrible, horrible people who just want the rest of us dead, dead, dead......" Quietly slink away hoping that the next shooter isn't on "their side".

[PH2050]

You gotta love some of the comments on the Denver Post site, like the ones claiming "more guns = more death"...uh, then why is gun violence at a low while gun ownership is at a high?

The only comments I don't find ridiculous are the ones raising the question of medication. I saw it in the military, SSRIs can have severe negative side effects that seem to lead to suicidal and homicidal behavior.

[fish_remote]

The only comments I don't find ridiculous are the ones raising the question of medication. I saw it in the military, SSRIs can have severe negative side effects that seem to lead to suicidal and homicidal behavior.

Well we wouldn't want to screw up the narrative now would we!

[Thane is a cosmotarian!]

I saw it in the military, SSRIs can have severe negative side effects that seem to lead to suicidal and homicidal behavior.

It is well-established that they carry a risk of increasing suicidal behavior. However, you'd better come up with some damn good evidence before you claim they increase homicidal behavior.

[John Galt]

The "poor Tonys" of this world lack the mental faculties to connect the dots between the vast majority of these type of violent acts and the fact that the perpetrators of them vastly more often than not share their identical world view, politics and general outlook on life.

[Edwin]

In the same vein as this and the other above comments in this sub-thread, I find it revealing that there has only ever been ONE genuinely right-wing dictator (Pinochet), and he (as far as I know) is the only one who never abdicated responsibility, one of the last things he ever said was something to the effect of "I take full responsibility for what I did for my country", as in, he's not pretending he was some awesome great guy, but more along the lines of "cracking a few eggs to make some omelettes", with the admission that it might be outright wrong to crack those eggs, even if the world ends up better for it.
I could easily see myself doing the same.

[Sevo]

Edwin|12.14.13 @ 6:02PM|#
"In the same vein as this and the other above comments in this sub-thread, I find it revealing that there has only ever been ONE genuinely right-wing dictator (Pinochet),"

Interesting.
I'll add the '60s Greek dictator and Franco, but then I'm all out.

[Calidissident]

Depends on what is considered "right-wing" (one reason why I really despise the right/left spectrum is because it's so vague and inconsistent). Originally, the original French right were monarchists, with the left consisting of both classic liberals and socialists. In Europe today, right-wing often really just means "people who support socialism, but only for whites/natives." I think there are other Latin American dictators besides Pinochet that can be described as right-wing, or at least would be better described as right-wing than left-wing.

[John Galt]

I prefer the absolute right equals absolute statism (total government control), while absolute left equals absolute anarchy (complete lack of statism.

Therefore neo-liberals, progressives and socialists are extreme right-wingers. Classical liberals, libertarians and some conservatives (small government types) are left-wingers.

[optimusratiostultum]

though that's completely backwards from the modern perception

[Edwin]

oh yeah, I forgot about Franco, and I dunno who the 60's Greek is, i'll look it up

[Killaz]

Then you have the Middle East, where the definitions really get confused. Baathist, socialist, sure, but also a nationalist movement. The Ayatollahs, religious fundamentals, but funded a lot of leftist, terrorist causes. Qaddafi? The classic example of an ambitious lower rank officer rising to the top of a military junta, but his Green Book, well, you'll have to sample it yourself. I even agree with the last point which is more than I can say for even a single paragraph of Al Gore Earth in the Balance.

2. "There are inevitable cycles of social history: the yellow race's domination of the world, when it came from Asia, and the white race's attempts at colonizing extensive areas of all continents of the world. Now, it is the turn of the black race to prevail in the world."

3. "While it is democratically not permissible for an individual to own any information or publishing medium, all individuals have a natural right to self-expression by any means, even if such means were insane and meant to prove a person's insanity."

4. "Mandatory education is a coercive education that suppresses freedom. To impose specific teaching materials is a dictatorial act."

[John C. Randolph]

I find it revealing that there has only ever been ONE genuinely right-wing dictator

I'd say that Marcos fits the description. Lee Kuan Yew and Suharto came close, too.

-jcr

[John Galt]

No question about it, the "poor Tonys" are afraid of what people will do if they're allowed to possess firearms.

The "poor Tonys" know exactly what they'd do if a firearm ended up in their own hands. It would be tragic for people around them.

[mariaroze]

my friend's mom makes $63 an hour on the computer. She has been out of work for seven months but last month her payment was $18465 just working on the computer for a few hours. Go to this web site and read more http://www.cash29.com/

[John C. Randolph]

We still don't care about your mother the geriatric camwhore. Fuck off and die.

-jcr

[LIFE.time.opertunity]

until I saw the receipt four $5268, I did not believe that my mom in-law woz like actualie bringing in money in their spare time on their apple laptop.. there friends cousin started doing this for less than 7 months and recently repaid the morgage on their mini mansion and got a great new BMW M3. look at this site
==========================
http://www.fb49.com
==========================

[fish_remote]

HOLY SHIT.....! I'll check into this right away!

[Suthenboy]

What is a mini-mansion if not an oxymoron?

A dollhouse maybe?

[Live Free or Diet]

A giant shed?

[John Galt]

A little house outdoors that has holes in a bench that people can poo into.

[John Galt]

Bleh. The M80 is the one everyone wants.

[GILMORE]

You mean the new M8 concept?

http://pictures.topspeed.com/I.....600x0w.jpg

I worked as a valet at a snooty country club in the 1990s, and the parking lot was a good mile+ from the clubhouse (we shuttled via golf cart)... 2 members had BMW 850s - the car the new M8 hearkens back to... and boy that was a very special car. One of them was the Alpina model. Both were v12s I think. Had the same sharp handling and immediate snappy power as an Mseries coupe, but a longer wheelbase and lower posture, like a corvette or ferrari. 'Bigger and Smoother' compared to a normal M beemer, but no shortage of grunt in them.

Its hard to capture the way they looked in photos...

http://oldconceptcars.com/wp-c.....e31-19.jpg

That looks just like a slightly stretched and lowered M3, but you have to be next to it to see how much longer the nose is, and how much flatter the windshield is sloped. Its a very subtle design that looks 'normal' until you get right next to it, and realized it was only as high as your stomach, and slopes downward all the way from the rear like a newish Corvette

I've been hoping to do a rebuild of one of these someday. A personal favorite car.

[AlgerHiss]

No surprise here.

Leftism has been responsible for more human misery and death over the past 100 years than anything else.

[fish_remote]

Leftism has been responsible for more human misery and death over the past 100 years than anything else.

I've seen much suffering resulting from late P.M. links and deficient alt-text offerings.....

[Sevo]

And a lack of an "edit" tab.

[fish_remote]

And a lack of an "edit" tab.

Indeed.

[Suthenboy]

Has there ever been a wacko shooter like this who was anything but a lefty? There may have been but I dont know who.

[Suthenboy]

I am amending my comment. There have been some complete wackos who were apolitical.

Still, no tea party, republican, conservative, libertarian....none that I can think of.

[fish_remote]

I think that they desperately tried shoehorn Anders Brevik into the "Right" category...perhaps due to his target selection.

[PH2050]

tried shoehorn Anders Brevik into the "Right" category.

Interesting that you bring up Brevik because his own words describing his upbringing and his perspective make it apparent that this is not the case.

[Calidissident]

I think Breivik is accurately described, at least from a European POV, as right-wing. I'm not sure what his economic views are, but his social views (which were his motivation) are quite conservative, and in Europe, right-wing often just means "people who support socialism for whites/natives." Personally, I think the right/left dichotomoy is stupid because it's so vague, inconsistent and meaningless, and it puts people with drastically different views on the same side of the spectrum.

[BSubversive.com]

Being a leftist is a mental disorder ergo we should lock them all up for their own protection.

[John C. Randolph]

The guy who perpetrated the Bath school bombing (1927) appears to have been enraged by losing an election and being up to his eyeballs in debt.

-jcr

[PH2050]

When you just know you are right-thinking and those dirty teathuglicans and glibertarians are wrong, I imagine being involved in debates with them might be tough to deal with but hey...they are bad people and it doesn't matter if they catch a few bullets amirite?

[SweatingGin]

How better to advance a gun control agenda than going out and shooting up a school the day before the anniversary of another shooting? What great Progressive Warrior.

[fish_remote]

Eggs and omlettes Gin. This leftist utopia isn't going to build itself.

(Although when they do a post mortem on yesterdays festivities I think that this will turn out to be a personal beef)

[mariaroze]

my friend's mom makes $63 an hour on the computer. She has been out of work for seven months but last month her payment was $18465 just working on the computer for a few hours. Go to this web site and read more http://www.cash29.com/

[Sevo]

The Chron is now printing an AP feed which says simply that the kid "held communist views".
I'm sure it burns the lefty editor's ass to be that honest, but AP prolly won't let 'em fiddle with the copy.

[Sevo]

OK, the "held communist views" disappeared when the Chron simply cut the story to 3 paragraphs.
Now it's expanded again and we have "his Communist-leaning political views."
Man, the lefty press is having fits trying to avoid admitting he was a brain-dead lefty.

[Brendan]

Wow, the kid was very grown up. That kind of simplistic snark is college level liberal/progressive.

[Brendan]

OTOH, with a argument style like that it's not hard to see why he got kicked off the team.

I'm imagining a young leftie employing the Bill O'Reilly style of discussion and defending himself against discipline by talking at length about his intentions, feelings, and all the things wrong with his opponents.

[Jeff]

I thought the Bill O'Reilly style was making a questionable assertion and then saying, "C'mon, you know that."

[Brendan]

I'm thinking of the yelling, name caling eg., "It's pinheads like you"

[fish_remote]

I'm thinking of the yelling, name caling eg., "It's pinheads like you"

Boston Irish bar style debate then....

[Charles Hurst Author]

Interesting as another liberal site named the shooter as a Bible type student giving the subtle hint that he was a right wing "fanatic."

I will preface by stating I am not a soapbox preacher but a
rogue Christian who has been watching developments in our country with my fellow Generation X. We have an evil that is descending on our country. What I refer to as "anti reason." It is affecting all spheres. Left and many on the right. It is irrelevant to me that this young man was left wing--what is disturbing is a young student would have the mindset to start shooting to begin with. But it is part of the overall picture.

Generation X is largely a broken family.There are no boundaries, reinforced by the vile talking box and internet. They are amoral. This would never have happened when I was in grammar school.

So it is what it is. You can expect more. More tragedy, more pain,
moral darkness that has fallen on the countryside. It is quite possible the entire nation will fall, just like my fiction predicts. I didn't come up with that grand theory on my own. The entire history of mankind agrees this is the end result when morality is lost. School shootings will be the least of our worries I fear.

Charles Hurst. Author of THE SECOND FALL. An offbeat story of Armageddon. And creator of THE RUNNINGWOLF EZINE.

[toolkien]

So were Starkweather & Fugate, Charles Manson, Charles Whitman, Ed Geen were Gen X? Funny how the Boomers were the first generation weened on TV but it's Gen X that were damaged by it.

In other words, you're full of shit.

[Duke]

Behold, a comment from LA Times:

AngelaBirch at 1:29 PM December 14, 2013
Kayak, Hitler did not promote gun control, in fact Hitler loosened gun control regulations. The third reicht had much higher gun ownership than the US did at the time. In fact children owned guns. Gun ownership in Germany was widespread.The only restrictions were on Jews owning guns but then they were not allowed to own radios or dogs either.

In the Soviet Union people also owned guns, hunting was a popular pastime. Handguns were difficult to get but rifles and shotguns much less so. If you think liberals are just out there desperate to take away guns, you are out of your tiny mind. Literals also own guns but like about 80% of gun owners most liberals like the notion of background checks on potential gun owners. THere are a fair number of liberal countries, and guess what guns are owned there and in large numbers. They are a bit more careful than the US in those countries you actually cannlt be a criminal or inane and own a gun. In the US they are easily available to both.

[John C. Randolph]

So, banning gun ownership by the people upon whom you intend to wipe out in a genocidal rampage isn't "promoting gun control"?

Today I learned that someone named "Angela Birch" is brain-dead.

-jcr

[Duke]

At least the Denver Post's "IMPuzzled" recognizes the Left's unbiased nature:

With all due respect to the Post, what exactly does Pierson's political beliefs or impassioned disagreement with economist Adam's Smith's philosophies have to do with the shooting? Sometimes it almost seems as if the news media is trying egg on the political divisions in this country by insinuating politics is behind dastardly deeds. Usually, there's something much deeper and malevolent underneath a person's political views that finally makes him snap.

In the article I see two aspects of Pierson's life that have more potential to have pushed him over the edge -- namely, that he could have been bullied and also that his parents were recently divorced.