The Lone Wolf Gunman
Lone Wolf seems to be the current terminology affecting U.S. terrorism. Definition of a Lone Wolf is critical. Lone Wolves are individuals that act on their own without orders or links to an organization. They are often classified as Leaderless Resistance. Meaning they take orders from no one and have no obligation to any individual person. The year 2010 has brought unprecedented Lone Wolf attacks on U.S. soil: three to be exact. Without immortalizing their names, the first was the individual who lost a court battle regarding his social security benefits and decided to engage in a gunfight in a federal court house injuring a U.S. Marshall. The second resembled the September 11, 2001 attacks, fortunately at a much smaller scale. An individual irate at the Internal Revenue Service flew a small aircraft into the Internal Revenue Service’s Austin, Texas building, killing an innocent civilian. The third and final Lone Wolf attack year to date is the Pentagon shooter. This individual opened fire and injured two police officers before being killed. Lone Wolf attacks are on the increase. Analyzing this year’s attacks, it appears that they are all targeted towards government facilities. The logical follow up questions are why and what can we do as a community or law enforcement to stop them?