Age of the Geek

Surrender now, or prepare to fight
     Man, we Iowa people are really disruptive lately.
     First we have an Iowa teenager throwing a monkey wrench into the presidential race, now we have two Iowa men making headlines after bringing weapons to a Pokemon convention.
     Held in Boston, the Pokemon World Championship is an invitational contest where the nation’s top players of the video game and card game gather to see who can be the very best. Among those invited to compete were Kevin Norton, 18, from Ames, and James Stumbo, 27, from Boone.
     However, Norton and Stumbo never made it into the convention.
     According to prosecutors, before leaving for their cross-country road trip, Stumbo and Norton made comments on social media threatening other players who were going to be at the contest. After being banned from a chatroom for bullying another player, Norton allegedly said, “Oh, ok, that’s fine then I will just shoot him on Friday thanks.”
     And before leaving, Stumbo took a photo of the trunk of his car, revealing that he was packing more than just a deck of Pokemon cards for the trip. Showing off an AR-15 rifle and a shotgun, Stumbo allegedly posted, “Kevin Norton and I are ready for world Boston here we come!!!”
     Needless to say, these actions raised some concerns.
     Now let’s make a few things clear here. The headlines of lesser media outlets would have you believe that these two men were arrested on the spot attempting to carry out a heinous crime.
     In reality, according to the district attorney’s office, Norton and Stumbo were identified by convention security and prevented from entering the convention center. While talking with the police, Norton allegedly acknowledged he had weapons in the trunk of his car and didn’t have proper licenses for them. The two men were released and the car was seized as police carried out their search warrant.
     Norton and Stumbo were taken into custody at their motel nearly two days later. While they are certainly in trouble for the unlawful possession of firearms, they are not currently facing charges in connection with the threats.
     And this is where it’s important to not jump to conclusions.
     It is entirely possible that Norton and Stumbo were prepared for trouble and that convention security and the Boston Police Department prevented what would have been yet another tragic massacre orchestrated by two disturbed individuals.
     After all, there’s plenty of reason to come to that conclusion. Demonstrations of anti-social behavior. Threats of violence. The fact that they actually did have a trunk full of unlicensed weapons. It looks really bad.
     On the other hand, Norton and Stumbo didn’t actually try to get into the convention center with the guns, and there’s no indication that they’ve been anything but cooperative with police. Likewise, while mass shootings are far too common for any threat to be ignored, the people who commit them generally don’t advertise so far in advance.
     It’s entirely possible that Norton and Stumbo, two acknowledged gun enthusiasts, were simply planning on visiting a shooting range during their trip and displayed astoundingly poor judgment about the kind of jokes they made on Facebook.
     With the amount of information available, it’s impossible to make a judgment on what their intention was. That can be left up to the court.
     What is certain is that, regardless of their intentions, these two acted incredibly stupidly. No matter how their upcoming legal drama plays out, they should serve as an example to everybody, particularly young gun enthusiasts, about how not to behave on social media.
     Guns are not toys. They grant the power to kill and, with any power, that comes with a responsibility to use it wisely. That responsibility doesn’t merely involve safe handling of a weapon when using it, but also being responsible about how you present yourself with it.
     One way or the other, Norton and Stumbo are about to learn this lesson the hard way.
 
 
     Travis Fischer is a newswriter for Mid-America Publishing and would rather we settle all of our differences with video games or playing cards.