Why It’s Impossible To Predict The Next Far-Right Massacre

Armed Policemen gather next to an FBI armoured vehicle next to the Cielo Vista Mall as an active shooter situation is going inside the Mall in El Paso on August 03, 2019. - Police said there may be more than one susp... Armed Policemen gather next to an FBI armoured vehicle next to the Cielo Vista Mall as an active shooter situation is going inside the Mall in El Paso on August 03, 2019. - Police said there may be more than one suspect involved in an active shooter situation Saturday in El Paso, Texas. City police said on Twitter they had received "multi reports of multipe shooters." There was no immediate word on casualties. (Photo by Joel Angel JUAREZ / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS

August 5, 2019 12:14 p.m.

Today, President Trump shifted the blame for the attack in El Paso away from the killer’s stated motive and onto mental health issues, saying that the government “must do a better job of identifying and acting on early warning signs.”

“I am directing the Department of Justice to work in partnership with local state and federal agencies as well as social media companies to develop tools that can detect mass shooters before they strike,” he said.

But experts I spoke with while researching an article I published earlier today, on violence that was seemingly Trump-inspired, described such a tool as next to impossible to create.

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