This dynamic was morbidly illustrated by the shooter’s own father,
Ian Mercer, over the weekend. In an interview on CNN, he launched into an unprompted diatribe about gun control laws. His son shot and killed nine people and the first thing he apparently thought to blame was lax gun regulation. It was disturbing and difficult to watch him as he desperately reached for the closest available rationalization. He’s wrong, but I feel for him. He didn’t send his son to execute a classroom full of innocent people. He didn’t want this to happen. He isn’t the murderer. And although his son is the villain in this scenario, he is still a father dealing with the loss of a child. I can’t imagine the utter and complete emotional desolation he must be experiencing. To make matters worse, in the midst of his overwhelming sadness, guilt, anger and grief, he’s been asked to offer a diagnosis of his killer son on national TV. He retreated to gun control talking points because he didn’t want to face the real questions. And I suppose we shouldn’t blame him for not wanting to face them with a camera and a microphone shoved in his grill.
Still, I can’t help but note that Ian Mercer was interviewed from the home he didn’t share with his son. The shooter came from a divorced family. He lived with his mother. Same was true of
Dylann Roof, who also slaughtered nine people. Same was true of
Adam Lanza, who massacred 20 children a couple years ago. All came from broken homes. None was close with his father.
In all of these cases, the media and Obama — and this time even the perpetrator’s father — diligently counted
how many guns the killers had in their homes but failed to notice how many parents they had in their homes. That seems like quite a detail to overlook. Before we wonder if a guy’s access to guns turned him into a murderer, you’d think we’d pause to reflect on whether his lack of access to his own father might have played a role.
These mass killings happen with relative frequency, and they are
usually not perpetrated by men who grew up in strong families with both biological parents present. Divorce and fatherlessness are
the two elements that tie most of these cases together. No other factor — gun laws, politics, racism, etc. — comes close. Dylann Roof was a white guy killing black people, Vester Flanagan was a black guy killing white people. Their races were different, yet the one line that cut right through both of them was
divorce. Even in cases where the killer’s parents are still married, a closer inspection will often reveal a home filled with instability and chaos.
Indeed, it’s not just the high publicity tragedies that seem to always involve broken homes. The
statistics across the board are staggering and conclusive: 90 percent of homeless kids are from fatherless homes; 63 percent of kids who commit suicide are from fatherless homes; 71 percent of high school dropouts are from fatherless homes. Children from fatherless homes
are at a much greater risk of developing drug addictions and are four times as likely to be poor. Out of all the youths in prison, a full
85 percent are from fatherless homes. In the
inner city where violence and drug abuse are rampant, four out of every five children are growing up without their biological fathers.
You name the societal ill or problematic group — from violent boys to
promiscuous girls to everything in between — and right there in the middle you’ll find broken homes, unstable families and absent fathers.
MATT WALSH: Our Kids Don't Need Gun Control Laws, They Need Fathers - Girls Just Wanna Have Guns
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