When Is It State-Sponsored Terrorism?
The mass shooting in Colorado Springs has all the makings of a state-sponsored terrorist attack
In the U.S., when we talk about state-sponsored terrorism, we often talk about foreign countries in the Middle East and even sovereign nations like Cuba and Venezuela - neither of which are sponsors of terrorism. But what about when it happens in the United States? Because what happened at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado seems to have all the qualifiers to declare it a state-sponsored act.
When the Trump administration’s State Department designated Cuba a state sponsor of terror, the justification was that the country granted “safe harbor to terrorists”. The announcement declared that Cuba must “end its support” for terrorism - something the Cuban government doesn’t do - and that they must stop the “subversion” of U.S. justice.
In the United States, a state-sponsor of terror could simply be a state, county, or municipality that employs the use of the power granted to them to protect and encourage terrorists on U.S. soil. We saw it with cops high-fiving Proud Boys - a known hate group bent on starting an ethnic war - in cities all over the county. Even further, we saw it when police, judges, and elected officials were found to be members of various hate groups such as the Oath Keepers.
We live in a time when authorities choose which laws to enforce and who they will prosecute for them. As has been the case for centuries. For example, if it wasn’t for the lawyers releasing the video of Ahmaud Arbery being lynched by three white men thinking it would clear their names, they might have never been prosecuted. Local leaders looked the other way until they couldn’t because the rest of the world saw what happened.
Everyone knows what the catalyst for the Colorado attack was. The kindling that led him to be a domestic terrorist came from hateful language found all over social media. They use rhetoric that finds support because people fear what they don’t understand. The vast majority of them don’t know the difference between a drag queen and a trans person. Anger over something they refuse to comprehend is a major factor in driving hate for the LGBTQ community.
The terrorist in the attack on Club Q was motivated by hate. There’s no question about that regardless of whether the mass shooter decided to claim to be non-binary and began using they/them pronouns. All of that is basic trolling that gives the far-right something to disrupt the conversation and somehow soften what the shooter did and what his motivations were. But we all know the truth thanks to his family and neighbors.
The Power of the State
What is clear is that “the state” knew about the shooter and the threats he posed to the public. When I say “the state,” I mean local authorities were aware of him and his intent. Yet, they used the power granted to them by “the state” to let him loose on the streets despite his threat to the LGBTQ community. Simply put, they didn’t care likely because they view the community as less than themselves. And if that’s the case, they almost certainly share the terrorist’s views.
Which would come as no surprise, considering.
Last year, the terrorist threatened to kill his parents and grandparents because they sold their home and were moving to Florida. The shooter told them they couldn’t sell because it would interfere with his plans to conduct a terrorist attack. He told them about his firearms, ammo, body armor, and the bomb-making materials he was stockpiling for his attack. At that point, he was arrested on multiple charges and was held on a $1 million bond.
Suddenly, his charges were apparently dropped and his arrest records were sealed. This abuse of state power is but one of many “state” elements that contributed to the attack that killed five innocent people and wounded many more. In other words, the prosecutor who took clear steps to protect the shooter used the power of the state and willingly allowed the attack to happen.
Then, there’s the El Paso County, Colorado Sheriff Bill Elder. He is among many county-level officials in Colorado who enforced the state’s red flag law in a very limited fashion. The Colorado Springs police chief, Adrian Vasquez also said he didn’t believe in using the law. Many officials, like the two top cops, believe that Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs or Red Flag Laws) are a violation of the Second Amendment and therefore ignore using them in most cases.
The local police chief along with the county sheriff employed the use of the power granted them by the state to subvert laws passed by lawmakers and supported by the majority of voters in the state. Instead, they deemed themselves, authoritarian lawmakers, by dictating which laws they would enforce and who would pay the price for their selective enforcement of the state’s laws.
Then add the likely influence of the shooter’s grandfather, Randy Voepel, a California lawmaker who was confirmed to be the shooter’s grandfather by his anti-gay father. Voepel once defended the Capitol Attack by comparing it to the Revolutionary War. While no connection has been made between the grandfather and the terrorist being let off without facing a penalty for his first terroristic threat Voeppel was running a campaign at the same time and hiding the shooter’s actions would have benefitted him and his election.
Is It State Sponsored Terrorism?
State-sponsored terrorism is defined as terrorist violence carried out with the active support of governments provided to violent non-state actors. In Colorado, we have multiple representatives of the state who laid the groundwork for the mass shooting to occur. They quite literally paved the way for the shooter to be able to commit the atrocious act.
So what then? To me, this is as much a state-sponsored act as police killing people with impunity at a rate of 3-5 people per day this year alone. Without question, the terrorist accomplished what he did because he was all but sanctioned to do it by local and county officials, some elected, others not. Either way, they gave him a green light to do what he did.
What do you think? Is it state-sponsored terrorism?
Because it is to me.
Arturo is a writer, journalist, and publisher of The Antagonist Magazine. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Thank you for this essay. The reluctance/refusal of leaders of both parties, and mainstream media, to correctly name the horrors we face continues to feed our societal downward spiral.