When a boy wakes on his 18th birthday and thinks himself a man on a mission
why, why, why, do we sell automatic weapons to young minds that haven’t matured?
Geoff Travis was just eighteen and had been looking forward to this day. He’d never had much use for friends, rarely met others outside the college campus, spending most of his social life on the internet. It was the kind of verbal discourse he liked, and using different social sites gave him a sense of power and influence.
He felt, after reading violent articles on different social sites he had the makings to become another American savior.
August 2017, a 20-year-old neo-Nazi and declared White Supremist drove a car from Ohio to attend a right-wing rally and drove his car into a crowd of people demonstrating against the Right-Wing rally. An innocent woman was killed and many injured. President Trump said of the rally, ‘there were fine people on both sides.”
Geoff, at 13 years old was infatuation reading about people who killed others. In 2018, Geoff 14 years old, he read on social sites about a young man (19) who walked into a school in Florida and killed 17 people. He carried an automatic rifle and rucksack. Geoff watched the television coverage with more than a morbid curiosity.
On May 25th, 2020, Geoff was again absorbed with live television coverage of the killing of a black man. The guy had been caught in a store using fake money. The police were called and were soon holding the man under arrest outside the store. Before those policemen left, he crushed the life out of the black man in front of millions of viewers. Geoff thought the policeman was a hero, a great cop taking another black life and demonstrating the supremacy of the whites.
In October 2021, a guy, again a similar age to himself, gunned down three people, killing two during a protest against racism and police brutality. Geoff thought this baby-faced guy looked pretty cool, walking through the streets holding an automatic rifle.
After an extensive trial this baby-faced killer was found innocent. Geoff thought, why not, he was protecting shopkeepers from being robbed by blacks. Geoff didn’t think much more about it, only that if he was killing the right people, the law will be on his side.
Geoff looked up all these events and many other atrocities on social sites. The more he researched, the more he was influenced by the words, ‘Replacement Theory.’ Geoff had been confused as to the meaning but researching sites of white supremacists, he got the message, and what it meant for American youth going forward.
He felt inspired.
In May 2022, Geoff watched again as an 18-year-old gunned down 10 African Americans. Man, Geoff thought, we are part of a movement. It is our calling to massacre the people who don’t belong here, who are not native American. We will be hailed as heroes.
Geoff read about, tactical gear, AR 15 including a tactical helmet along with plated chest armor, and a camera to stream online the killings.
When questioned the killer declared he wanted to kill as many blacks as possible. Geoff heard that final call.
Today though, he felt especially powerful. He was old enough to own a firearm, having saved his money. Anyone holding an AR 15 in his hands isn’t going to be messed with. Geoff checked in the mirror when he got out of bed, looking at himself, imagining holding the fearsome weapon in his hands, practicing his stance, and couldn’t wait to own it.
At 4 p.m. Geoff entered the gun store, taking with him his birth certificate, and driving license. Once inside the store, Geoff showed his ID. The store owner took both the certificate and the license, returning them after ensuring their authenticity.
“What would you like to look at, young man?”
Geoff wasn’t undecided. He knew the weapon, and what that weapon was built for. He would become a celebrity, a hero of the White Supremacists Movement.