In May of 2021, a man named Gareth Train began a correspondence with an American called Donald Day. Day is a premillennialist, a Christian sect that believes that Jesus will physically return to earth, ushering the end time. Day’s correspondence fed Train and his wife Stacey conspiratorial beliefs, including claims that the government is run by Satan and his minions.
When police were called last December the Train property for a routine welfare check on Gareth’s brother Nathan, two of the officers were gunned down in an ambush, with two other officers forced to flee for help. Nathan and Gareth then lit a grass fire in an effort to smoke the officers out, which prompted a neighbor, Alan Dare, to investigate. He was also shot and killed. The two men then posted an online video of themselves, claiming that “devils and demons” had attempted to kill them, but that they had struck first.
What followed was a tense six hour siege which ended with the death of all three suspects. In all, half a dozen people lost their lives, and all because of unhinged conspiracy theories. Now, police in the US have arrested Day for his connection in the shooting.
Premillennialism is mainly an American invention, and ever since the Covid-19, religious groups have been getting more extreme. The toxic combination of Q Anon, MAGA supporters, and the slow decline of religion has created dangerously primed groups of believers that think the end times are just around the corner. When the stakes are risen so high, you can count on things turning violent.
Australia is has enacted strict gun control laws after a massacre that occurred in 1996. When 35 people were slaughtered, the government decided that it was time to enact stricter gun control laws. The results were a dramatic decrease in not only mass shootings, but also in accidental gun deaths as well. The conclusion from this three decades of reform is clear:
Removing large numbers of rapid-firing firearms from civilians may be an effective way of reducing mass shootings, firearm homicides and firearm suicides.
Following this tragedy, there may be more gun reforms on the way. Over 80% of Aussies think that gun laws are still too lenient. It’s almost as though the country wants to do something to stop these kinds of shootings. Isn’t that weird, America?
Day was arrested by the FBI as a result of his involvement in the shootings. How the rest of this plays out remains to be seen.