An Appalling Lack Of Responsibility

If you've seen the headlines over the past 24 hours or so, you know about the horrible shooting rampage in City Hall in Kirkwood, Missouri:

"A gunman with a history of acrimony against civic leaders stormed City Hall during a council meeting Thursday night, killing two police officers and three city officials before law enforcers fatally shot him, authorities said. The mayor was critically injured..."

What are the details of the 'history of acrimony' between the Kirkwood City Council and Charles "Cookie" Thornton?  Take a look:

Thornton was well-known at City Hall, often making outrageous comments at public meetings, according to a 2006 article in the weekly Webster- Kirkwood Times.

The newspaper quoted Swoboda as saying in June 2006 that Thornton's contentious remarks over the years created "one of the most embarrassing situations that I have experienced in my many years of public service."

Swoboda's comments came during a council meeting attended by Thornton two weeks after the man was forcibly removed from the chambers. The mayor said at the time that the council considered banning Thornton from future meetings but decided against it.

"The city council has decided that they will not lower themselves to Mr. Thornton's level," Swoboda said at the meeting. "We will act with integrity and continue to deal with him at these council proceedings. However, we will not allow Mr. Thornton, or any other person, to disrupt these proceedings."

Thornton said during the meeting that he had been issued more than 150 tickets.

He was arrested twice and later convicted for disorderly conduct for outbursts at two council meetings in 2006, convinced the city was persecuting him. When allowed to speak during one meeting, he approached the podium with a posterboard with a picture of a donkey and began making harassing remarks about Swoboda.

So, this guy has been cited for over 150 tickets for illegal activities (I heard on the radio that many were for relatively small things like parking illegally), has a history of disrupting City Council meetings, and has been arrested twice for his efforts.  What does his brother have to say about the killing spree?  It's unbelievable:

"The only way that I can put into context that you might understand is that my brother went to war tonight with the people, the government that was putting torment and strife into his life.  He has spoke on it as best he could in the courts, and they denied all rights to the access of protection and he took it upon himself to go to war and end the issue," Gerald Thornton said.

The gunman's family is putting the blame on the City Council!!!

Where is the sense of responsibility here?  Where is the condemnation for the gunman?  I understand the family is grieving and in shock, but how can we as a law-abiding, moral and just society allow the gunman to escape his part in this tragedy?  Who is advocating for the families of the five victims (and the two more who were critically injured)?

This reverse victimization thing that has become so common that it seems to pop up almost every time something like this happens.  The idea that the perpetrator gets a pass because they are the victim -- of a hard childhood, or whatever -- is completely backward, because the real victims (those who were actually harmed, and their families) are completely left out of the picture.  This is a clear signal of some major problems in our society, and it's got to stop.

There's my two cents.