On Wednesday, a 14-year-old student at Apalachee High School in Georgia entered campus with an assault rifle, killing two students and two teachers while injuring nine others in the first major school shooting of the fall semester.
It is now rote to say that the United States is the only country where school shootings routinely happen. And as it happens year after year, American politicians are obliged to offer their condolences. At a campaign rally on Thursday in Phoenix, Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance spoke on the matter, calling the teenage killer an “absolute barbarian” who carried out an “awful tragedy.” But it was another quote that caused controversy.
“I don’t like this,” Vance said. “I don’t like to admit this. I don’t like that this is a fact of life. But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets and we have got to bolster security at our schools.”
Soon after, the Associated Press........