On Wednesday, two young children were murdered and more than a dozen others injured when a mentally ill man cosplaying as a woman opened fire during morning Mass at a Catholic elementary school. The tragedy has sparked national conversation — but really, two different conversations.
On the right, the focus is on why the shooter committed such a heinous act. The shooter, Robert Westman (later legally known as Robin) was deeply disturbed, believed he was a female, and had those delusions affirmed by those closest to him. Notably, his mother signed off on his legal name change in 2020 because he was still a minor, as reported by the New York Post. A manifesto purportedly from Westman reveals anti-Trump and anti-Catholic animus, intertwined with other extremist ideologies.
The right recognizes the true root cause of this tragedy. This wasn’t about “gun violence.” It was about a mentally ill leftist, propped up by an ideology that tells men they can become women, acting out his hatred toward Trump and Christians.
The left, predictably, has taken the opposite approach. For them, it doesn’t matter that the shooter was delusional about his gender, or that his anti-Catholic and anti-Trump bigotry were central to his motive. None of the why matters — only that a gun was involved. And because a gun was involved, they insist, the gun must be the problem. This reflexive blame-shifting reveals the left’s true motive in covering the story: exploitation. They’re not interested in stopping violence at its roots, only in exploiting a tragedy to advance their political goals.
And how do we know this to be true?
Take for example how Chicago Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson said in 2023 after three teenagers were shot that while their behavior is “unacceptable” it’s “not constructive to demonize young people who have been starved of opportunities.”
Or take for example how Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dismissed theft in 2020: “They feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry.”
“Do we think this has to do with the fact that … people are at a level of economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic?” Ocasio-Cortez asked, before answering herself. “People aren’t paying their rent … and they need to feed their child and they don’t have money.”
Or then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who said the “pandemic” was the root cause of crime in a lot of communities.
When it comes to theft, rioting, or gang violence, the left rushes to explain away the criminal behavior with excuses of poverty, inequality, or the pandemic. In all of these instances, it’s the why that matters. And why is that? Because the left is exploiting these acts of violence to serve political ends too — whether it be expanding state power, dismantling law enforcement or normalizing disorder.
It also can’t be said that Democrats truly care about gun violence itself, because if so, we’d see wall-to-wall coverage every time it claims lives. But that’s not what happens.
Consider this: between Tuesday and Wednesday, two men were killed and three injured in various shootings in the Bronx, New York. But there was no wall-to-wall coverage (even though in both horrible instances, two individuals were killed). There is no national call to action. Why? Because inner city crime can’t be weaponized to attack the Second Amendment. The victims and perpetrators don’t fit the narrative. But the moment a tragedy can be framed as a morality tale about “guns,” the coverage explodes.
The left doesn’t treat all gun violence the same, because they’re not actually interested in solving it. The left cynically exploits tragedies, like a heinous attack on a quiet suburban school, that it knows it can use to manipulate Americans into giving up their rights. That’s why the left jumps on high-profile attacks while ignoring the carnage that takes place daily in inner cities. To the left, not all crime is equal — they just care about the crime they can weaponize to advance their radical agenda.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
