The Gun, Grievance, or Medication? The Forbidden Conversation

The Washington Post reports that the Wisconsin school shooter, Natalie (Samantha) Rupnow, had been "enrolled in therapy" before her rampage at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. Once again, a terrible tragedy unfolds, and corporate media floods us with sorrow and outrage. "We have to do something about gun violence!" they cry.

But did the gun pull the trigger? Solving the wrong problem leads to the wrong answers.

Now, the buzzword is “radicalized.” She must have been “radicalized” by the Internet, they say. But what does that even mean?

Is it the smartphone’s fault? There is some data showing a parallel rise in teen mental health crises alongside the rollout of smartphones and social media.

Lyndsay O’Connor, whose daughter and son attend the school, told Wisconsin Right Now, “She died a broken girl. She died unheard, and she found solace in a bunch of people who didn’t promote goodness.”

In the past, when phones were still corded to the wall, teens hung out with their friends face-to-face. As the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Bad company corrupts good character.” Today, kids can connect with almost anyone, anywhere in the world, through encrypted apps—and parents might never know.

So yes, one problem we’ve created with our shiny new digital toys is that our children can now be influenced by bad company at any time, in any place. This makes parenting even more critical to a child’s mental health. In Natalie Rupnow’s case, her parents reportedly divorced and remarried three times, leaving her caught in a tug-of-war between them and the state.

This raises a bigger question: what grievances were festering in the heart of a 15-year-old girl?

“Hurt kids hurt people,” says criminal profiler John Kelly. All behavior stems from our thinking. Most mass shooters suffer from what I call soul violence. Psychologists call them grievance collectors—people who cling to hurt, unable to let go of anger, frustration, or disappointment, whether real or perceived. Over time, these negative thoughts build into negative energy, until critical mass is reached. Then the person faces a choice: turn their grievance inward and commit suicide, or outward, taking their rage out on others. Suicide and mass shootings are often the outcomes of unresolved hurt.

The final piece of this nightmare is mental health medication. Beyond the legalization of marijuana—which has clearly contributed to a mental health crisis—we need a serious conversation about SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).

What did Natalie’s “therapy” include? Just counseling, or medication as well? We don’t know, partly because, as a minor, her medical records are rightly protected. However, there seems to be a concerted effort to suppress discussion about the role SSRIs might play in amplifying the “noise” in a troubled teen’s mind.

Until we have transparent and honest conversations about our mental health care policies, we may miss a critical part of the problem that drives a teenage girl to turn her grievances outward.

(Revised from Ablechild) Having reported on school shootings for years, it’s notable how quickly mental health information is now surfacing. Just two days after the Madison, Wisconsin, shooting, news has already emerged that the shooter was undergoing therapy.

Fifteen-year-old Natalie (Samantha) Rupnow, identified as the shooter at Abundant Life Christian School, allegedly targeted fellow students and teachers, leaving two dead and six injured. Reports suggest she may have been caught in the crossfire of her parents’ marital conflicts—an undoubtedly troubled young individual.

According to a Washington Post report, the shooter’s parents married and divorced three times. The last divorce in 2021 provided a custody agreement that had the 15-year-old shuttling between each parent’s home every two or three days. And, given there was a custody case, it comes with the territory that the State’s Family Services Department would become involved. Another clue that the state became involved in Natalie’s welfare is that the parents were involved in mediation and according to the Post “Natalie had been enrolled in therapy, which was supposed to help guide decisions about which parent she would spend weekends with…”