Over the weekend, there was a ton of stuff going on. I spent Saturday waiting to see if the No Kings protest here in my town would turn violent–it didn’t, which is what I expected, but still–and then moved on to Father’s Day, where I got to enjoy a day of doing pretty much nothing. It was glorious.
But while I wrote up stuff for the weekend on Friday and planned on doing nothing, I knew there was a story I’d need to cover, and that was what happened in Minnesota.
It’s absolutely insane. A lawmaker and her husband were killed, another was shot nine times, his wife shot eight, and then the alleged assassin went on the run, only to get caught Sunday night.
Vance Boelter stands accused of two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and a pile of other crap because he had a list of targets he wanted to take out.
And the truth is, we don’t really know what the hell is going on with this guy.
For one thing, Boelter was involved in politics, as was his wife. She was detained and questioned earlier Sunday with a firearm on her person, but was not in custody as of Sunday afternoon. She reportedly once worked for Gov. Tim Walz when he was in Congress as an intern. However, the veracity of that claim has yet to be verified.
Boelter himself had been reappointed to a workforce development committee by Walz. One of the other people on that committee was state Sen. John Hoffman, the victim Boelter wounded.
This has been used to link Boelter to Walz.
However, Boelter apparently had a roommate who claimed Boelter was a Trump guy and a big fan of Alex Jones. The state’s DFL Party showed that Boelter wasn’t voting Democrat in last year’s election.
Now, let me be very clear here and now. Whether this guy was a Republican, a Democrat, or something else is largely irrelevant. This kind of thing is absolutely evil. This is not how we deal with politics in this country. I’ve called it wrong when people on the left have committed acts of violence and I’m calling this wrong now when it seems the bad guy might be on the right.
It doesn’t matter to me.
Now, with all of that said, let’s keep in mind that these four people were shot, which brings it into the realm of guns, gun rights, and gun control.
Minnesota isn’t exactly a gun-friendly state. At least, it’s not unless you’re a Fudd like Walz.
The state requires a permit to purchase a handgun and a permit to carry a firearm. That didn’t stop Boelter (allegedly) from killing two and wounding two others. There are also universal background checks, which should, in theory, keep someone from skirting the permitting requirement, though we all know how well that concept works in practice.
Look, I’m really bothered by what happened, regardless of what the killer’s motivations are. This isn’t something we should welcome as part of our political discourse. I’m denouncing it here and now because it’s wrong on every level.
I’m also going to point out, though, that gun laws in the state failed to prevent this horrific series of events. Nothing is going to change that, either.
Read the full article here
