A MARYLAND READER WRITES THAT IT’S TERRORISM:

I’m a high school student at a private school in Baltimore and am following the Montgomery County shootings closely…What I’ve seen all over the news is newscasters and commentators hypothesize a possible “terrorist connection” with the shooter. They are missing a basic point.

The shooting spree is terrorism, with or without an associated political manifesto or “swarthy-looking” male. In Baltimore, entire conferences have cancelled their games, all off-campus privilieges have been repealed, and schools are on a state of “lockdown.” Remember, this is in Baltimore, 50 miles away. The only time they locked down the schools like that was last September 11, and sometime during the anthrax attacks (when they hysterically closed all the windows, thinking it would do any good), both which were most definitely terrorist attacks.

So, even if we don’t have an Al Qaeda or Separatist Militia, we should still call the calculated, paramilitary, random shootings outside D.C. as we feel them: actions that terrorize the community, make people feel uncomfortable about going outside, and senseless, scary violence. Which, as it happens, is also known as terrorism.

Indeed.

UPDATE: Avedon Carol is an example of this phenomenon at work.

Diane E. feels the same way.