Augusta, GA
Was it terrorism? Local expert weighs in on mass shooting in Buffalo
AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- The mass taking pictures that befell in Buffalo on Saturday, is taken into account a hate crime. However, an professional at Augusta College mentioned it additionally matches the definition of terrorism.
Dr. Lance Hunter is an Affiliate Professor of Political Science at AU. He spent years researching mass shootings and terrorism, and finally revealed his findings.
He defined an occasion should match three standards to be thought of an act of terror. It should be a violent occasion, be motivated by radical political, social, or non secular ideologies and have a goal “enemy” or “different”.
Dr. Hunter mentioned many individuals are hesitant to label mass shootings as terrorism, as a result of they don’t match up with preconceived concepts of what terrorism is. He defined that when many Individuals consider terrorists, they consider Al Qaeda and ISIS, and so they consider bombings and hijackings.
“As a result of if we have a look at the incident in buffalo, in my estimation, based mostly on the proof I’ve seen, it matches all the factors to be thought of a type of terrorism. So you possibly can have an motion that could be a type of a hate crime, and it’s additionally terrorism. So, it may be each. And we consider that it’s each right here, based mostly on the statements and writings achieved by the perpetrator,” mentioned Dr. Hunter.
Dr. Hunter mentioned home terrorism has been rising considerably over the past a number of years. He defined that his analysis exhibits one group of Individuals has grow to be a number one concern in terms of mass shootings and terror in the US.
“If we have a look at 2015 to presently, concerning home terrorism, we see that roughly 80% of the acts of terrorism have come from proper oriented people or teams. About 20% for left oriented. Out of that 80%, not less than half of these are white supremacy teams.”
Whereas many are hesitant to label the Buffalo taking pictures as terrorism, in a press release Saturday, President Joe Biden referred to as the mass taking pictures an act of home terror.