So Ramos was a loner, bullied because of his poverty status. A rant.

[hunter]

43. From middle school until I quit high school I was frequently beaten bloody.

The bullies started calling me "queerbait" in seventh grade and it was a name that stuck.

"Get out of my way, queerbait."

Quitting high school was one of the best decisions I ever made.

It never occurred to me that guns would solve my problems.

Curiously, among my siblings, it's my sister and I who both quit high school, who have the very respectable university degrees.

Our siblings who "fit in" to their high school environments have two year associate degrees or certifications and landed in the trades and/or business.

I was exposed to hunting/fishing culture, but not gun fetish culture.

I'm not sure we can blame this on bullying. Girls are bullied as often as boys, worse at times, and they don't do this.

It's colored by my personal experiences, I know, but I still think what some people call "toxic masculinity" is the underlying cause of this.

That combined with easy access to guns is a deadly combination.