After this Monday’s mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, where at least six people were killed and two and a half dozen were injured, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) came up with a new conspiracy theory: it might be “deadly side effects” from widely used anti-depressant medications to blame. There’s zero apparent evidence for this.
In response to one of her Twitter posts on the topic, ret. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman publicly criticized Greene for enabling gun violence. If Greene is actually interested in dealing with the problem of gun violence in the United States, then she can look in the metaphorical mirror. Americans continue to suffer as she and others who think like her pursue absolutely bonkers conspiracy theories about what’s really going on here — limiting the number of doors at schools was a serious proposal on the Right after the Uvalde, Texas shooting, which is simply ridiculous. As Vindman put it on Twitter this Tuesday: “Why do you continue to defend rampant gun violence. It is past time for substantive gun safety laws. When will the Republican Party break with the death cult that is the @NRA. #GunSafetyNOW”
Why do you continue to defend rampant gun violence. It is past time for substantive gun safety laws. When will the Republican Party break with the death cult that is the @NRA. #GunSafetyNOW https://t.co/ED04eIoYAY
— Alexander S. Vindman (@AVindman) July 5, 2022
“When are we going to have an honest conversation about drug abuse, mental illness, and SSRI’s???” Greene posted in the rant to which Vindman was responding. “And deadly side effects. Are we really going to keep pretending? Or covering for Big Pharma? Because I’m absolutely done with the political plays on this BS.” What on earth is she talking about? It’s not only that there’s no apparent evidence linking side effects from drugs, legal or otherwise, to the Illinois shooting — there’s not even any apparent confirmation the Illinois shooter even used SSRIs (the widely used anti-depressant medications) at all. Substantial numbers of Americans regularly take those medications. Gigantic numbers of Americans aren’t committing mass shootings.
“Police have released limited information about Crimo, who had not been charged early morning Tuesday,” Newsweek noted, referencing the shooter in Illinois. “His potential use of medication is not known.” Nonetheless, Greene was embarrassingly confident. Members of the public should “demand his records be released,” she said, discussing the shooter: “School history, drug history, arrest record, hospitalization history, drug rehab, drug prescriptions, psychological and psychiatric records, and childhood abuse history… Is this going to be another story where some crazy manifesto will be found? Are we going to be told every “weapon of war” and amount of ammo he bought yet the public won’t be told his prescription drug history or recreational drug history?” Greene also referenced the shooter’s apparently low weight as supposed evidence he was “on” something. Again, there’s no apparent confirmation he was “on” anything, let alone SSRIs — widely used by many Americans who do not go on to commit mass shootings. Greene is a bumbling embarrassment.
