Just ran across this article on the perpetrator's history with law enforcement:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-23/mosque-shooter-welfare-check-guns?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Edit: should definitely have mentioned in the initial post that the article's insinuation that the perpetrator's autism somehow made the shooting more likely even though it's almost certainly a contraindicator of gun violence is vile slander.

Makes it absolutely crystal clear that no amount of police will ever save you from a mass shooting, in case Uvalde wasn't enough, and this time the structural factors are clear as day because the police weren't even incompetent:

1. After being warned about mental health issues, removed guns from the perpetrator's home.
2. Had previously put perpetrator on involuntary mental health restraint in addition to him having voluntary treatment.

So basically everyone knew this guy was being radicalized and was likely to commit a mass shooting. What did they do? Forced him into mental health treatment, and thence into ongoing therapy. Wasn't enough in this case but that's basically the best you can expect any hierarchical system to do. They also tried to remove his access to weapons, but again, that wasn't enough. Short of preemptively locking him up or placing him under permanent invasive surveillance for thought crime ahead of time, there's nothing more you can reasonably do in a situation like this, from a policing perspective. The "police" tool is simply insufficient for this job.

So from an anarchist perspective how *should* this have been prevented?

1. Targets engage in self-defense. This did happen and far fewer people died because of it. Police tend to suppress this (e.g. preventing parents from entering school in Uvalde).
2. Shut down the hate sites. Police under the excuse of "free speech" keep these up, in part because plenty of police officers are white supremacists who frequent these sites. Notice that right now free speech does not cover hauling around some anarchist zines in the back of your car, but it somehow does cover running hate forums that encourage mass shootings. Government censorship isn't the way this should go (that's always a bad thing; that's one thing the idea of free speech gets right) but grassroots protest and resistance is needed to take down white supremacist digital spaces.

There are probably other ways to undermine the structural forces pushing people into mass shootings (like reducing alienation by abolishing capitalism) but these ones are the simpler ones. The larger point is that if you're afraid of police abolition because "Who will stop the mass shooters if we don't have police?" you should first seriously ask the question "Who will stop the mass shooters while we still have police?" because very clearly "the police" is not the correct answer to that.

#AbolishThePolice #PoliceAbolition #Anarchy

San Diego gunman was 'idolizing Nazis and mass shooters,' prompting gun removal from home in 2025

In January 2025, Chula Vista police conducted a check on Caleb Vazquez after being alerted to disturbing social media postings and learning there were guns in the family home.

Los Angeles Times
Common Question about Police and Prison Abolition and Responses

Dean Spade Common Question about Police and Prison Abolition and Responses 2017 Draft by Dean Spade, 2017. Many thanks to Mariame Kaba for giving feedback...

The Anarchist Library
Abolition & Revolution

PeerTube
ABOLIRE LA POLIZIA
La polizia, a parte difendere le classi dirigenti, svolge qualche funzione che possa essere considerata utile alla società ? Un interessante opuscolo realizzato dai movimenti USA ci permette di sviluppare l'argomento, particolarmente attuale in questa fase in
https://collegamenti.noblogs.org/post/2026/01/16/abolire-la-polizia/
#recensioni #Repressione #ACosaServeLaPolizia #AbolireLaPolizia #DefundThePolice #LaPoliziaServeAQualcosa #PoliceAbolition #PoliticheSecuritarie
ABOLIRE LA POLIZIA – Collegamenti per l'organizzazione diretta di classe

Altreconomia: una voce indipendente su economia, stili di vita, ambiente, cultura

Dal 1999 la voce indipendente sull'economia in cui viviamo e quella in cui vorremmo vivere. Sito, rivista, libri, servizi di comunicazione, eventi

Altreconomia

Public Assemblies Strengthen Community Resistance to Rising Authoritarianism

"In this episode of Movement Memos, Caldwell and host Kelly Hayes discuss the power and potential of People’s Movement Assemblies, and how the practice of direct democracy can help us fight fascism."

https://truthout.org/audio/public-assemblies-strengthen-community-resistance-to-rising-authoritarianism/

#PoliceAbolition #activism #Community #PeoplesMovementAssemblies #DirectDemocracy #AntiFascism

Public Assemblies Strengthen Community Resistance to Rising Authoritarianism

“This process invites people to be active participants in shaping the collective outcome of our people’s futures.”

Truthout

#Carceralists often say "what about #shootings" as an argument against #PoliceAbolition. But we'd be better off without #cops, even then.

Worst case scenario, shooters would kill only the people they're actually after. That's still terrible, but they wouldn't have to also kill everyone around who might call the cops. They wouldn't even have to keep the #gun.

And that's not even taking into account how a #culture of #policing leads to shootings in the first place.

STATO di POLIZIA


A decreto sicurezza approvato, che garantisce totale impunità alle violenze delle forze dell’ordine, le Polizie si scatenano in operazioni violente e muscolari contro manifestanti e cittadini inermi.

In questo video quello che è accaduto ieri alle porte di Torino: contesto diverso dalla manifestazione per la Palestina a Milano ma stessa dinamica, con carabinieri e polizia che accerchiano e manganellano.

#toutlemondedetestelapolice
#policeabolition

Quanto accaduto ieri a Milano merita di essere denunciato pubblicamente e con forza. Questa gestione dell’ordine pubblico — muscolare, arbitraria e impunita — è la nuova normalità voluta da Meloni e Piantedosi anche con l’approvazione del decreto sicurezza

#toutlemondedetestelapolice
#policeabolition

Queste sono alcune delle magliette indossate dalla polizia a Milano , che sabato ha aggredito la manifestazione nazionale per la Palestina,

La prima felpa riporta il logo del gruppo " Orzeł Skulls " (Teschi dell’Aquila), legato agli ultras di estrema destra e militanti neonazisti polacchi.

La seconda felpa mostra invece il simbolo di " Narodowa Duma " (Orgoglio Nazionale), un gruppo nazionalista attivo anche durante la Seconda guerra mondiale in Polonia.

#policeabolition