No one thing makes a school shooter, and the person ultimately responsible for the crime is the trigger puller.
However, circumstances and public policy can certainly help or hinder the development of these individuals and can either empower them or mitigate their impact.
In the case of Robin Westman, Minnesota’s policy choices maximized both the likelihood that Westman would turn into a murderer and helped ensure that he could cause the maximum damage.
Ironically, Westman himself pointed to two of the reasons he became so deranged in the first place.
Robert Westman, the transgender terrorist who shot up Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, blamed his mother for the shooting after she allegedly warned he would regret transitioning
“Gender and weed f*cked up my head. I wish I never tried experimenting with either.” pic.twitter.com/ba1QlePCxO
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) August 29, 2025
He’s not wrong. Gender ideology has clearly radicalized people, and gender ideology exists to brainwash people into hatred of the larger society. A troubling percentage of recent mass killings have been committed by transgender-identifying individuals. As I have written several times, I doubt that gender dysphoria is the direct cause; gender ideology is. The sudden recent outbreak of trans-identified killers is a direct result of leftists–including government officials–pushing gender ideology.
Can a movement built on anger achieve anything good? pic.twitter.com/tKUO6uIrEN
— XX-XY Athletics (@xx_xyathletics) August 28, 2025
And weed? One of the things we have learned since the explosion of use of marijuana in recent years is that it can dramatically increase the incidence of psychosis in users. It may not be the case that every user of marijuana–especially those who occasionally take a toke or two–becomes psychotic. But the incidence of cannabis-induced psychosis has skyrocketed since the legalization of its use.
The cannabis connection can’t be ignored. @AlexBerenson: ‘Cannabis can trigger psychotic episodes. National studies show new schizophrenia cases tied to THC—and psychosis is linked to violence. In several mass shootings, cannabis use was confirmed in the killers.’ pic.twitter.com/u4PYngQbnm
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) August 28, 2025
Cannabis can trigger psychosis, and this new Canadian study of 14 million shows how the risk of schizophrenia attributable to cannabis rose from 4% to 10% with legalization of cannabis (in 2018): pic.twitter.com/QRA9oyGVRF
— Chris Aiken, MD (@chrisaikenmd) February 9, 2025
The movement to decriminalize and legalize marijuana has been premised on the idea that the drug is benign. I used to think it was, except for the obvious fact that “stoners” often became lazy and goofy. But recent experience shows that the “reefer madness” propaganda of the 1950s and 60s had something to it. Hospitals are seeing a troubling rise in psychosis directly related to its use, and psychosis is often accompanied by a tendency to violence.
Minnesota is a “transgender sanctuary state,” meaning that our government encourages parents from states unfriendly to hormone and surgical treatments for dysphoria can come here to get treatment provided by the government. The “sanctuary” part of the equation includes protecting non-custodial parents who kidnap children for this purpose against court orders.
Our laws also ban psychological treatment for gender dysphoria. It is labeled “conversion therapy,” and practicing it is illegal. In other words, providing counseling to help a child resolve dysphoria is explicitly banned. Only medical treatments–drugs and surgery–are legal in Minnesota.
Westman identified as transgender, worked at a Marijuana dispensary, and fantasized about and eventually carried out a school shooting.
And the state literally banned counseling for him. Think about that.
It’s as if a demon demanded that the Democrats, who passed all these policies to the glee of their constituents, create a poisonous brew that would virtually guarantee such an outcome.
But wait! There’s more!
STORY: https://t.co/OsrqqBgFEl
— Alpha News (@AlphaNewsMN) August 29, 2025
Governor Walz and the legislature created a fund to protect schools after the Covenant school shooting, and religious schools asked for grants from that fund to provide security. Walz denied the request because he is hostile to private schools. The Bishops begged for help, and he denied it.
Two weeks after a transgender shot up a Christian school in Tennessee in 2023, the head of Minnesota’s Catholic schools begged Tim Walz for help.
“Our schools are under attack,” he wrote.
Walz did nothing. But that month Walz signed a bill making Minnesota a “trans refuge.” pic.twitter.com/T1fKeazYbS
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) August 27, 2025
And, of course, schools are gun-free zones, adding to the risk. Gun-free zones guarantee that only criminals have guns, while law-abiding citizens are disarmed and put at their mercy.
At every step along the way, Minnesota policymakers made conscious choices that both guaranteed that something like this would happen and that the maximum damage would be done when it did.
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