Highland Park Is Nothing Less Than Terrorism

John F. DiLeo, writing at the American Thinker has an interesting point of view conerning the Highland Park shooting. He believes that there is Much More than Murder in Highland Park. For DiLeo, shootings like that at Highland Park represent nothing less that terrorism. You will want to read DiLeo's piece to understand from where he is coming. But essentially, by creating fear, the shooter drives people away from gatherings, parades, political events, as well as parties and concerts. Yet we are free people, and used to social gatherings.

The First Amendment guarantees us – as Americans – the freedom to peaceably assemble.

To gather together in large crowds – whether for parades or festivals, political conventions or rock concerts, movie theaters or dance contests, shopping malls or baseball games – is more than a Constitutional right; it is part and parcel of our society.

Terrorism – whether blatantly political or not – is, at its core, an attack on the freedom of assembly.

...snip...

We don’t know, at this writing, whether this particular perpetrator was inspired by Antifa or Occupy or ISIS or any other specific group. He may have thought he was acting out all on his own. But no matter whether he - or any other event-focused mass murderer for that matter - was consciously motivated by a political philosophy or not, the end result is certainly political, in that the result serves the Anti-American terrorists’ goal.

And that may be the point, after all. Illinois already had so-called "Red Flag" laws, and the perpetrator was known to the police, who visited his home, and confiscated his knife collection. At that time he alledgely made threats to kill his family. that is enough to trigger red flag laws and to at least have him involuntarily committed for evaluation. This act would have shown up on a background check, and prevented him from obtaining a gun. If the law enforcement people took their own laws seriously, the perpetrator of this shooting seems to be the type of person for whom "Red Flag" laws were written. The law failed...again.