Zoe Williams- Madden 19 Qualifying Tournament Crisis

Jacksonville Shooting


This article discusses the events of the Jacksonville shooting at a Madden 19 qualifying tournament.  At this event 2 people were killed and 12 were wounded by David Katz, who latter killed himself inside a gaming bar.  David was carrying two guns at the time, both acquired legally in Maryland.  The point is brought up that Mr. Katz's shooting may have been targeted towards two very well know gamers in the Madden community, Taylor Robertson and Elijah Clayton, who were described to be non-violent, good natured people.  The convention has delayed further events to reevaluate their security to protect against similar possible instances.  There have been no advances in a motive, but Mr. Katz's parents are cooperating with the authorities, easing the process of the investigation in a tremendous way.  Through his parents divorce filling the investigators discovered that Katz had been hospitalized in a psychiatric facility twice and is therefore on anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medication.  The validity of this information is put into question by Mr. Katz's father, who believed his ex-wife was over exaggerating his son's condition.  Through it all, everyone is saddened by this day's events, but is still thankful that a larger death tole was not taken from the event.

This article is written in a time when public shootings are a serious issue in society making it easy for the reader to be sympathetic towards the victims.  It's also written in a time where poor mental stability has been suggested as a partial cause for a many shooters' actions, which is coincidentally brought up in this article as well.  There is a large argument on wether mental stability is an "excuse" or valid "motive" for crimes similar to Jacksonville so it begins to bring up personal opinion in the reader as to the stability and/or accuracy of the article.  However, the author does a very good job of not showing their own personal opinions about mental stability in these situations or even gun laws.  Now in any shooting that takes place we must examine the second amendment and how it was meant to be understood.  In situations like this, where a possibly mentally unstable man is able to acquire firearms, we have to ask ourselves wether that should be possible?  The amendment states "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed" if it is "necessary to the security of a free State" and to me this is a great example of why "bearing Arms" is doing the opposite of insuring security.  Now many people may interpret this constitutional statement differently than I, but that is the only reasonable conclusion I can comprise from it.  This article is important, because we must continue to build awareness for the danger that firepower and ill-cared for mental illnesses presents to our communities.  Many people will deny and defer the causes of these crimes, but the more examples there are, unfortunately the stronger my argument holds.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jacksonville-shooter-clearly-targeted-other-gamers-sheriff-says-n904236