Just hours after the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, conspiracy theories have already popped up on prominent websites.
Hoax website NoDisinfo.com published an article saying that “without any doubt the claim of an actual shooting on the day after ‘April Fool’s Day,’ April 2, 2014, is a hoax,” adding that it is a “Zionist plot and is an absolute lie. It is a kind of cover-up for the failed faking of the Malaysian Airlines crash.”
The article was placed under the “other hoaxes” section on the website. Other websites, including Beforeitsnews.com, claim the incident is a “false flag” and it was planned, meaning that it’s an attempt to mislead and distract the public from more nefarious matters.
Infowars, the website operated by Alex Jones, claims that the incident is likely an attempt to “disarm the entire military.”
“There will not be a sustained resurrection of the gun control debate in the aftermath of yesterday’s Fort Hood shooting because the most ardent gun control advocates firmly believe that the state should have a monopoly on weapons,” it says.
However, there’s no evidence that the shooting was planned or that it’s an attempt to disarm the military.
The claim to “disarm the military” is somewhat problematic because the U.S. Department of Defense has an extensive list of rules for carrying firearms on base--and especially Fort Hood.
“The post’s newspaper, the Fort Hood Sentinel, reported in August of 2012 on the rules: Soldiers who live on post must let their immediate commanders know if they have a personal firearm. All losses — or possible losses — must be reported within two hours. No concealed weapons are allowed, even with a state or county permit,” reads a Washington Post article on the subject of base rules pertaining to carrying firearms.
The DOD says: “The authorization to carry firearms shall be issued only to qualified personnel when there is a reasonable expectation that life or DoD assets will be jeopardized if firearms are not carried. Evaluation of the necessity to carry a firearm shall be made considering this expectation weighed against the possible consequences of accidental or indiscriminate use of firearms. DoD personnel regularly engaged in law enforcement or security duties shall be armed.”
And following the September shooting at the Washington Navy Yard that left 12 people dead, Rep Steve Stockman of Texas introduced a bill that would allow service members and federally employed civilians to carry personal weapons on military installations, the Post reported.
“Our disarmed military bases are vulnerable targets for terrorists, as we saw in Fort Hood and the Navy Yard,” Stockman said in a statement. “Despite that, soldiers trained to use guns cannot carry on base. The result is two mass killings where defenseless soldiers had to watch as their friends were murdered.”
The Associated Press reported that the gunman, Ivan Lopez, had mental health problems
He was taking medication and was receiving psychiatric help for depression and anxiety, and he was also getting evaluated to see whether he had post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
“We do not know a motive,” Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, the senior officer at Fort Hood, said. “We do know that this soldier had behavioral health and mental health issues, and was being treated for that.”
