Saturday Data: Words Unspoken, Conspiracy Promoted

   

  The latest mass shooting in America...the one that left nine people dead and many injured at a Community College in Oregon, also advanced a new technique on the part of officials investigating the murders. Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin refused to say the name of the shooter, as though that action---even if followed by every law enforcement agent in America---would somehow convince other shooters not to shoot.

    On top of that, Mother Jones and other media now report Sheriff Hanlin posted and wrote approvingly about a "truther" video about the Sandy Hook shootings on his personal Facebook page. It promotes conspiracy beliefs that the distraught parents of those innocent children were actually actors. 
     The L.A. Times reported he also opposed any additional gun control measures after Sandy Hook:

Amid national calls for tighter gun control laws, Hanlin has been firm in his opposition. He spoke out against gun control legislation last year, telling a state legislative committee that mandating background checks for private, person-to-person gun sales would not prevent criminals from getting firearms.
Hanlin also sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden after the 2012 shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.
Hanlin said he and his deputies would refuse to enforce new gun control restrictions “offending the constitutional rights of my citizens.”
On Friday, Hanlin said he hasn’t changed his position on gun control, but refused to discuss any details.

 A website that tracks mass shootings in the U.S. reports there is now an average of one every day.
  

   Perhaps there will be a tipping point for mass shootings that will result in direct action to limit access to weapons. But it didn't happen after Sandy Hook. And I doubt it will happen after Umpqua Community College.
[PLUS: The Washington Post reports the most American gun owners live in the rural South.]

[Saturday Data is a regular feature of www.TimLennox.com]