America is reeling yet again from a senseless act of violence—this time in the heart of New York City, where a deranged gunman stormed a high-rise office building, killed five people, including a brave NYPD officer, and injured several others before taking his own life. The shooter, a 27-year-old former high school football player named Shane Tamura, left behind a note blaming the NFL and the sport of football for his deteriorating mental health, allegedly caused by chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Yes, you read that right: this wasn’t random. Tamura deliberately targeted a building at 345 Park Avenue, which just so happens to house the headquarters of the National Football League on the fifth floor. This was premeditated. And it’s yet another grotesque example of a society that refuses to confront the real roots of our mental health epidemic, choosing instead to bury its head in the sand while innocent Americans pay the price.

Let’s start with the obvious: this man was mentally unstable. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed Tamura had a documented history of mental illness. He drove from Nevada to Manhattan—across the entire country—with a plan. This wasn’t a heat-of-the-moment breakdown. It was a calculated, ideologically driven act of terrorism disguised as personal grievance. And what are we told to blame? The usual scapegoats: guns, “toxic masculinity,” or in this case, the game of football.

Now, let’s be clear—CTE is a real and tragic condition. It has taken the lives of too many former athletes and caused untold suffering. But it is not, and should never be, an excuse for mass murder. No mental illness justifies preying on innocent people. The NFL didn’t pull the trigger. Football didn’t force this man to drive 2,500 miles with a firearm and a vendetta. Personal responsibility still matters in this country—at least it used to.

Tamura played high school football in California. He never went pro. He never played at the collegiate level. So if CTE is being floated as the root cause here, we need to ask ourselves: what was really going on in his life? And more importantly, why are so many young men in this country spiraling into darkness, rage, and isolation?

This is where the Left always misses the mark. They want to sanitize the narrative, erase personal accountability, and paste over every act of evil with a band-aid made of jargon, therapy-speak, and bureaucratic hand-wringing. But America doesn’t have a gun problem. We have a culture problem. We’ve hollowed out our moral compass, dismantled the family unit, demonized law enforcement, and spit in the face of the very institutions that used to offer young men purpose, discipline, and community—church, military, and yes, even team sports.

Instead, what do we give them? A digital wasteland of nihilism, drug abuse, and broken homes. We hand them smartphones and gender theory instead of fathers and faith. And then we act shocked when one of them snaps.

The NFL now finds itself at the center of this tragedy—not as the villain, but as a target. Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a somber message to league employees, confirming that one staffer was seriously injured. Let’s hope the league takes this moment to reflect—not on the brutality of football—but on what’s happening to young men in America. Because this isn’t just about helmets and head injuries. It’s about a deeper spiritual and societal rot that no amount of brain scans can explain away.

The real tragedy here isn’t just the loss of life. It’s the fact that we’ve seen this story before, and we’ll see it again. Because until we start rebuilding the pillars of civilization—family, faith, responsibility, and community—we’re going to keep producing angry, broken men looking for someone to blame.

And when that blame turns into bullets, it’s not just one man’s fault—it’s the fault of a culture that forgot how to raise men in the first place.

America deserves better. And it starts with telling the truth.