It's been well over a year since transgender shooter Audrey Hale gunned down multiple people at Christian Covenant School in Nashville, including three children. We learned at the time that the shooter had left behind a suicide note, a lengthy manifesto, and allegedly some videos, likely providing a lot more information about how the attack was planned and unfolded. However, the media and the public have consistently been denied access to those materials ever since despite lawsuits brought by media outlets and legislators. That pattern continued this week, with a judge in Tennessee ruling that the records are subject to protection under the federal Copyright Act. If you find yourself feeling confused by that declaration, you're not alone, but at least for now, the official records will remain locked away. (NY Post)

A lengthy manifesto written by Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale won’t be released to the public because its copyright now belongs to her victims’ loved ones, a judge has ruled.

Families of the three children and three staffers gunned down last year by Hale, 28, at the private Christian Covenant School can block media outlets’ access to the writings, Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles ruled Thursday night.

“The original writings, journals, art, photos and videos created by Hale are subject to an exception to the [Tennessee Public Records Act ] created by the federal Copyright Act,” Myles wrote in court documents.

As has been the case all along, it's not the police that are keeping the manifesto and the rest of the records hidden. It's the families of the victims. They reportedly collected the material from Hale's family and filed a copyright claim on them, preventing them from being published without permission. That makes absolutely no sense from a couple of perspectives, but it's obviously leading to a great deal of frustration.

First of all, the creator of those materials was dead. How can anyone simply come in, scoop them up, and then claim to have copyright authority over them? Those items were police evidence. This process is being described as a blow to government transparency which sets a terrible precedent for future criminal investigations. Police reports are supposed to be public records, though the release of such material can sometimes be delayed if it might hamper an ongoing investigation. But the investigation into the shooting is over. They know who did it and no accomplices were identified. 

What's even less clear is why the families of the victims (of all people) would be the ones fighting to keep the records locked away. You can at least understand why Hale's family would oppose the release because they are no doubt mortified by the actions of their daughter. But shouldn't the victim's families want to expose the inner workings of the monster that robbed them of their loved ones? 

In an effort to explain, the family of 61-year-old staffer Cindy Peak released a statement after the judge ruled on the case. They described it as providing "a measure of relief" because hiding the manifesto would result in "denying the shooter some of the notoriety she sought by releasing her vile and unfiltered thoughts on the world." But that makes no sense. Audrey Hale is dead. She won't be around to benefit from any "notoriety" that might arise from public coverage of the material she left behind. If they had said they didn't want to reopen old wounds, perhaps we could have some sympathy for that position, but based on that explanation this just looks like additional, unwarranted secrecy.

As we've discussed here previously, the only way we're going to get better at spotting aspiring mass shooters is to understand their motivations and methods as thoroughly as possible. Authorities and the public should know what sort of social media hate speech shooters like Hale were engaged in so similar lunatics can be identified and reported. Was she on any mental health medications for anything beyond gender dysphoria? That could also provide another potential red flag. These families aren't doing the world any favors by fighting so hard to keep that manifesto and the rest of the material locked up. If anything, it's a selfish decision in my opinion.