Jindal Pens Angry Blog Post Blaming Oregon Shooting On Abortion, Movies, Absent Dads

Bobby Jindal is mad about the Oregon shooting, and has taken to the internet to vent.

On Tuesday, the Republican presidential candidate published a strongly-worded blog post on his campaign website blaming the tragedy on the “cultural decay” of American society: Things like abortion, video games, movies, music, nontraditional family structures, and absent fathers.

“Our families are a complete mess, and we have raised tens of millions of young boys who will never become real men because they have no values whatsoever, they have no truth in their lives, and they have no regard for common decency,” Jindal wrote, before lamenting what he called a “deep and serious cultural decay.”

Jindal also explicitly rejected calls for gun control in the wake of this latest massacre, which saw nine people shot and killed by a young man named Chris Harper-Mercer. Instead, Jindal blamed the shooter’s father Ian Mercer, who railed against weak gun laws in the United States after finding out that his son had killed so many people.

“If Chris had not been able to get hold of 13 guns, this wouldn’t have happened,” Mercer said.

Mercer reportedly did not have a close relationship with his son, telling reporters that he had divorced from the shooter’s mother years ago and lived with her and his stepdaughter. In his blog post, Jindal said this was the reason Harper-Mercer committed the crime — not because of his access to guns.

“He’s a complete failure as a father, he should be embarrassed to even show his face in public. He’s the problem here,” Jindal wrote.

Mercer reportedly had no idea that his son had an interest in guns before the shooting, which Jindal said was indicative of his parenting.

“Why didn’t he know? Because he failed to raise his son,” Jindal wrote. “He should be ashamed of himself, and he owes us all an apology.”

There’s been no indication that Harper-Mercer had any specific gripe with his father. His neighbor had told authorities that he had been “dealing with some mental issues” — specifically, Asperger’s syndrome. His mother, Laurel Harper, told the New York Times that she also suffered from the syndrome. She also said she shared Harper-Mercer’s love for guns, and kept many in their shared home.

So far, Harper-Mercer’s motivations have been speculative, ranging from religious to romantic. Authorities have not yet officially determined a motivation for the shooting.

It is unsurprising, however, that Jindal would avoid placing blame on access to guns. The Louisiana governor has supported a variety of pro-gun laws in his state, which in 2013 had the highest gun-related homicide rate of any state in the country, according to federal data.

Original Article
Source: thinkprogress.org/
Author: Emily Atkin