Deborah Levine
DL Opinion columns

Our active shooting hoax was a warning – by Deborah Levine

originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press  

I was appalled to hear that UTC was under the threat of an active shooter. The full campus lockdown meant that students and staff endured an hour of terror. The lockdown was applied to Chattanooga’s government buildings. The Chattanooga Times Free Press was also in lockdown as were a dozen Hamilton County Schools as well as Erlanger and parts of Siskin Hospitals. When the search of campus buildings gave no evidence of a shooting, the lockdown was thankfully lifted.

What’s happening here? Good question!  And it applies far beyond the Chattanooga area. A dozen universities experienced similar hoaxes as they began their fall semester. They were all over including Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, New Hampshire, and Arizona.  Keep in mind that the timing of these university incidences was too close to be copy-cats, so it’s possible that there was a coordinated effort. Maybe the FBI is looking into that especially since the hoaxing went to the next level a few days later when our airport went into lockdown with a bomb threat. 

These hoaxes, known as ‘Swatting’, refer to law enforcement’s highly-trained SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams that respond to violent crimes. The term ‘swatting’ may be relatively new, but dangerous hoaxes have a long history, as I know all too well. Thirty-five years ago, I was the office manager of the American Jewish Committee in Chicago when there was a bomb threat. Our office was in a 49-story building and I was in charge of getting all our staff out safely. No elevator. Stairs only. I felt lost in a hateful alternative universe and the fear is still easily triggered, which was the intention. The hoax was designed to disrupt and terrify. 

Intentions haven’t changed but increasingly result in actual destruction. Research shows that mass shootings have been increasing for decades. The recent shooting at the Minneapolis Catholic School gives us a closer look at this cultural trend that David Brooks labeled ‘nihilism’ in a recent article for The Times Free Press. The urge to destroy is deeply embedded along with hate. The Minneapolis shooter, Robin Westman, wrote about despising just about everyone: Blacks, Hispanics, Catholics, Jews. He also wrote about loving guns and admiring active shooters. The passion for violence and destruction is symbolic of the growing nihilistic trend.

I wasn’t surprised by the usual ‘thoughts and prayers’ comments regarding the Minneapolis shooting or by the pushback response including the renewed calls for gun control, particularly of automatic weapons. And I wasn’t surprised by the next pushback calling these demands insensitive while claiming that the issue is mental health, not guns.

But I was surprised to read how the Dept. for Homeland Security (DHS) had cut funding to mass shooting prevention programs in Minnesota a month before the killings. The Trump administration ended grants as part of $18.5 million in cuts to a Homeland Security program calling them partisan and unsuccessful. Ridiculous! Even the Minneapolis shooter’s writings expressed surprise that no one had checked him out, spotted the early warning signs, and stopped him. Scary! 

Hear the words of a victim’s parent: “…work toward a safer, more compassionate world… urge our leaders and communities to take meaningful steps to address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this country. Change is possible, and it is necessary …” 

Time to vote to invest in mental health in our schools and vote to dis-invest in automatic weapons. Yes, also pray for who have lost loved ones. And please pray for those who worship disruption and violence. Divine intervention is needed so that their nihilism doesn’t wreck all our lives.  

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