What We Should Take Away from Palm Springs Bombing

There are headlines that, on some level, seem like something that should happen somewhere else. Unfortunately, in this day and age, they happen here often enough that I probably need to get over that.

The latest example of that is the bombing in Palm Springs, California.

I mean, a car bombing was always something we saw in the Middle East or even in Europe, not the United States.

Now, it’s come a-knocking on the streets of California.

One person was killed and at least four other people were injured after a vehicle exploded outside of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, on Saturday morning, in what the FBI called an “intentional act of terrorism.”

The blast shattered windows and rained debris for blocks.

“Make no mistake, this is an intentional act of terrorism,” Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, told reporters during a news conference Saturday evening. He said investigators believe the clinic was targeted.

So yes, this is domestic terrorism.

Of course, some parties jumped at the chance to blame this on right-wing extremists, trying to claim that the idiots didn’t know the difference between a fertility clinic and an abortion clinic; the reality here is that it was nothing of the sort.

The individual suspected of the bombing–the only fatality in the incident–wasn’t exactly on the right.

Instead, he ascribed to a couple of extreme left-wing ideologies such as antinatalism–which claims that having children is unethical–and promortalism, which is an ideology that one should die as soon as possible.

A website reportedly left by the bomber shows up on Google with the title “F*** You Pro-Lifers!”

That doesn’t sound very right-wing at all.

Now, in fairness, this twerp doesn’t sound like he was overly stable before he found this nihilistic philosophy, either.

he father of the 25-year-old suspect believed by authorities to be behind the car bombing outside a fertility clinic has revealed his son’s troubling behavior as a child.

The American Reproductive Centers (ARC) clinic in Palm Springs, California, was severely damaged by the blast on Saturday morning, which injured four victims and killed suspected bomber Guy Edward Bartkus.

Bartkus was identified as the key suspect by the FBI on Sunday, and his estranged father, Richard Bartkus later spoke to the media about his son’s past, saying he’d once burned down the family home at age 9.

His dad describes him as “a follower who was easily influenced by others.”

Those wounded appear to have minor injuries, thankfully.

Now, there’s going to be a lot of discussion about this going forward, and not without good reason. Some of it will be about the ideologies involved here, but we’re likely to stay out of a lot of it.

I will, however, point out that this guy didn’t use a gun. Bombs can kill just as many people, if not more, than firearms can. We saw that in Oklahoma City all those years ago. We already have explosive control that goes well beyond what the anti-gunners claim they want (at least for now).

What we saw was awful and had the potential to be so much worse. The issue here wasn’t a lack of laws, but a broken person whose entire ideological outlook involved a lack of respect for human life.

It was the person, not the laws–or, more accurately, the lack thereof–that led to this.

I can only hope some people wake up to this fact at some point.