Let me tell you about the time I almost got trampled in a Walmart Black Friday sale. Same energy as watching Rhode Island officials promise they'll absolutely catch Brown University's disappearing gunman trust us bro while releasing surveillance footage so grainy it might as well be Bigfoot sighting evidence.

Here's the scene two dead students, nine wounded, a whole campus realizing ivy covered walls stop bullets as well as they stop bad report cards. Then poof our shooter evaporates like my motivation to vote in midterms. Dark jacket, medical mask, basic white guy camouflage. His escape act would be impressive if it wasn't so terrifying.

Now law enforcement keeps telling us patience is a virtue. Cool cool. Maybe they can tell that to the parents flying into Providence right now. Tell it to the kid who watched their lab partner get shot during a debate about Kantian ethics. I triple dog dare them to say it with straight faces.

Let's get gritty with numbers. The Violence Project says 70% of public shooters since 1966 die on scene. Another 15% surrender immediately like they forgot crime has consequences. Only 15% actually attempt escape. Of those, most get caught within 48 hours like road trip GPS shortcuts that take you to cornfields instead of beaches.

But this guy. Day four and counting while police release enhanced footage that looks like someone smeared Vaseline on the camera lens. Remember when they caught the Boston bombers in 2013 Using clear photos, shop cameras, tech from this actual century. What changed.

I'll tell you what changed. We perfected the art of performative security theater. Metal detectors at school entrances. Active shooter drills where teachers barricade doors with flimsy desks. Lockdown alerts that ping our phones like weather notifications. All while ignoring the gaping holes in our laws that let potential shooters walk into gun stores like they're buying milk.

Don't at me with we need mental health reforms either. Studies from 2022 show countries with similar mental illness rates but stricter guns laws have 1/10th our mass shootings. Meanwhile** the conversation keeps magically diverting from regulation to everything but regulation. Wild how that happens.

Back to our Houdini in the hoodie. How does someone fire 9mm rounds in a classroom full of future senators and Rhodes scholars without someone screaming thats Dave from chem class. Unless Dave wasn't Dave. Unless our shooter prepared better than I prepare for family Thanksgiving debates about gay marriage.

Think about the logistics here. Maps. Escape routes. Burner phones. Disguises. How many YouTube tutorials did this guy watch between gaming livestreams. Either we're dealing with criminal mastermind level planning which seems unlikely, or he had help disappearing like my faith in bipartisanship.

This stinks of coordinated vanishing. Underground networks. Radicalization pipelines. The same shadow systems that helped ISIS brides cross borders or January 6 rioters dodge FBI visits. We act shocked when they operate domestically for domestic terrorists.

Where are the leaders naming this rot out loud. The ones not busy fundraising off tragedy or drafting thoughts and prayers tweets. In 2020 we literally tracked down a guys identity using the reflection in his eyeballs on Parler. Now suddenly we can't ID Shmegma who left a trail of shell casings like breadcrumbs.

Here's the thing. When I was 20 and working campus security in 2017, we conducted lockdown drills using walkie talkies with dying batteries. Professors rolled eyes about disruptive active shooter training during finals week. Admin sent emails promising safety was their top priority right under announcements about new football bleachers costing 12 million dollars.

Every time this happens whether it's Uvalde or Parkland or now Brown we follow the same script. Candles. Vigils. Politicians saying never again with the conviction of Peloton instructors. Then radio silence until the next one. Rinse. Repeat. My generation has collective trauma from active shooter drills we used to practice changing classes. Traumatized then told climate change might kill us before retirement anyway.

What if instead of thoughts and prayers we tried actual policy. Universal background checks supported by 90% of voters. Red flag laws that work when enforced. Technology to disable guns outside approved locations like we already do with smartphones and corporate laptops. Save the innovation for things that matter beyond quarterly profits.

To the students protesting outside Brown admin offices right now keep screaming. To the professors holding office hours in coffee shops instead of bullet marked classrooms keep pushing. To local reporters digging through this guys abandoned online footprints like digital archaeologists keep exposing.

They say sunlight is the best disinfectant. Well we got whole forests needing light right now. Our job is to hold the damn flashlight while pulling receipts so nobody can look away. Also maybe vote. Like actually vote in every local election even when it feels pointless. Spoiler it isn't pointless.

Ill leave you with this. In 2018 Congress actually reauthorized the National Threat Assessment Center which studies targeted violence before it happens. The program cost less than three Tomahawk missiles. Wonder which project got funded more aggressively. Hint not the preventative one.

We deserve safety without surveillance states. Mourning without marketing ploys. Justice that doesn't vanish like a ghost in grainy footage. Till then stay loud, stay annoying, and for gods sake stop retweeting the killers manifesto.

Someone's gotta sell I VOTED stickers outside gun conventions. Might as well be us.