Thomas Matthew Crooks shared some of the characteristics that have defined several of America’s other casual, day-light assassins. He was white, male, educated and reared in suburban normality, lacking few of the privileges that America confers on those born with these advantages.

In a global context, these attributes of race, colour, nationality and family placed him among the top quadrilles measuring economic stability. He bore none of the justified grievances that black and Asian people often harbour in affluent western societies and stemming from systemic discrimination and racism.

Forty-five years ago, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer shot and killed the principal of Cleveland Elementary School as well as another staff member and wounded eight pupils and a police officer. Her stated reason for committing this act was “I don’t like Mondays.” Since 2015, more than 20,000 Americans have been killed or wounded in mass shootings. In 2022, more than 600 people lost their lives and a further 2,700 were wounded.

In the course of the next few weeks assorted theories and explanations will be offered to explain the actions of Donald Trump’s would-be assassin. I’ll be surprised if any of them make much more sense than Brenda Spencer’s.

You can’t really look for a salient pattern of psychopathy or unresolved emotional hurt when these incidents occur in America, not when they happen so routinely often that most now rate barely a mention on the national news networks. It’s tempting to point to how absurdly easy it is to acquire high-calibre assault weapons as a major factor in these incidents.

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