British police are reportedly considering declaring the mass shooting in Plymouth, England, by ‘incel’ Jake Davison a terror attack.
Davison, 23, had fatally shot five men and women, including his mother and a three-year-old girl, and injured several more before turning the gun on himself on Thursday night.
Archives of the killer’s YouTube channel revealed videos entitled “Missing out on teenage love and experiences and people who say ‘its not a big deal’” and “23 Year Old Virgin Autist”. The media labelled Davison an “adherent of misogynistic ‘incel’ culture” days after the attack, with The Guardian citing an online rant where the Plymouth resident said that “women are arrogant and entitled beyond belief”.
Senior counter-terrorism sources have told The Times that they have not ruled out declaring the murders an act of terrorism. The South West Counter Terrorism Intelligence Unit is analysing the 23-year-old’s phone, online posts, and computer, with the newspaper reporting that if investigators can link Davison’s motivation to the incel movement, which British security sources connect to the far-right, the case could be treated as an act of terror.
Labour MP Stella Creasy, who has called for misogyny to be treated as a hate crime, connected the tragedy to “incel culture”, saying less than 24 hours after the shootings: “We need to call it what it is: anti women terror – and act.”
Imran Ahmed of the Centre for Countering Digitial Hate also claimed that “incels are terrorists” and that “incel communities” form to radicalise others.
Davison was a licenced firearms holder but had the documents revoked earlier this year following alleged assault charges, for which he escaped punishment by agreeing to attend anger management classes.
His family is also said to have contacted mental health professionals with their concerns over the young man.
However, Devon and Cornwall Police returned the licence to him and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is examining force for the seeming failure and whether it had on record any information regarding the shooter’s mental health prior to the murders.
Meanwhile, the Home Office said on Sunday that the government was preparing guidance that could result in police checking applicants’ social media accounts when considering issuing firearms licences.
Breitbart News Network’s James Delingpole criticised the media and political class for seizing the tragedy as a “beneficial crisis” and who will “now exploit this as an opportunity to advance a long-running Establishment agenda: the war on private gun ownership, and the redefinition of anyone with vaguely right-wing ideas as a potential terrorist threat.”
Delingpole continued:
Make no mistake, this is the beginning of the end for legal gun-ownership in Britain. The government and media response to the Plymouth incident is a classic case of Problem, Reaction, Solution.
Yes, the local police do indeed have questions to answer as to why Davison had still had possession of a pump-action shotgun when he had been on a police assault charge two months earlier and when members of his family had contacted mental health professionals for help.
But that is simply a case of current regulations being poorly administered — not an indication that rules need to be made stricter.