These are bizarre times.
“These are bizarre times.”
They are indeed, and they’re getiing more bizarre still.
The gunman did not only have a criminal record, he also spent some time in a psychiatric ward for having suicidal tendencies. Normally this would exclude anyone from qualifying for a firearms license, but look at it this way: if the Dutch government wanted to confiscate all privately owned firearms, all it would take is an incident that is serious enough to ensure nation-wide approval.
Did they allow this to happen in order to secure widespread confiscation? Did they ‘let’ it happen? Was it a matter of “oops”? Or is this bloodbath the result of an overzealous firearms licensing policy and the lack of political backbone to play it fair?
Governments are not known for their openness, honesty or self-criticism, you know.