By now, you know all about how the Washington Post has published images from crime scenes. Like Cam wrote earlier today, we won’t be linking anything here. If you just need to see these images for some reason, you can find them. We’re not going to help them get their clicks.

The goal of this, of course, is to try and pressure more and more Americans to act, to support things like assault weapon bans.

Historically, photographs have helped advance causes when Americans knew little of what was going on. A prime example, one cited by the Post, is the image of Emmett Till. It rammed home what was going on here in the Deep South and ultimately led to the dismantling of segregation.

The idea is that by showing these horrific photographs, even if you can’t identify the bodies, people will suddenly be motivated to support laws they previously opposed.

Rather quixotic, if you ask me.

See, a lot of people didn’t realize the stories they heard about the Deep South were true, that lynchings happened. Emmett Till’s photo changed that and those folks had to wake up to that reality.

AR-15s being dangerous isn’t anything new. Everyone knows that they’re dangerous–it’s kind of the point of them, really–and that some people have misused them. It’s simply not a matter for debate. Firearms are deadly weapons, period.

By the Washington Post showing these photographs, they’re not going to get the reaction they think.

Don’t believe me?

Look at what’s happening in Israel right now. On October 7th, Hamas crossed the border between Gaza and Israel and began a series of massacres that would make even Las Vegas or Orlando look restrained. Pictures from those massacres quickly circulated. Videos from cell phone cameras, dash cams, and a myriad of other sources were widely disseminated on the internet.

We know how awful what happened was. There’s absolutely no way one can doubt it.

And yet, some do. Some even still support Hamas.

There’s ample photographic and video evidence of the atrocities they committed, and yet it hasn’t really changed anyone’s mind about how they feel on the issue. The vast majority who supported Israel before we had those images still do and the vast majority of those who supported Hamas still do.

Nothing has changed.

Nothing will change with this effort, either.

Well, nothing good, anyway.

You see, there are sick people in this world. At least some of them will look at what the Washington Post has done, look at those images, and start thinking. Some will just sort of get off on the images themselves. Others, though, might well find them inspirational.

On Wednesday, Cam and I talked about this during the VIP Gold livestream. We talked about how some people look at the Columbine killers as inspirational, calling them “martyrs.” When people look at these two that way, can we be certain that others won’t look at these images and draw some sick inspiration from them?

The Washington Post’s quixotic quest to attack so-called assault weapons might well backfire in a lot of ways. After all, not only will it not change minds, it might actually make the overall issue they claim they’re trying to address even worse.

Plus, so far as I’m concerned, the Washington Post has now officially given up any pretense of neutrality. This is what gun control advocates wanted and precisely so they could advance a particular agenda and the Post provided it.