TerrorismNumber of lone-wolf terrorist attacks in U.S. not rising, but police are targeted more often
Lone wolf terrorist attacks in the United States are not on the rise as popular culture might lead one to believe — but the attacks are changing for the worse, according to new research. The targets, weapons, and motives have changed in recent years. Before 9/11, these terrorists used bombs, but now high-velocity firearms are the weapon of choice, he said. The change might be a result of legislation enacted after the Oklahoma City bombing limiting the public’s access to bomb-making ingredients. Police and military personnel are now the preferred targets of modern lone wolf terrorists. Domestically, attacks on the power grid are the next big threat, the researchers say. Lone wolf terrorist Jason Woodring successfully downed the electric transmission system of rural Arkansas in 2013. His vandalism affected 10,000 people and cost $3 million in repairs.
Lone wolf terrorist attacks are not on the rise as popular culture might lead one to believe — but the attacks are changing for the worse, according to research by an Indiana State University professor.
“We find no evidence that lone wolf terrorism is increasing,” said Mark Hamm, criminology professor and terrorism expert. Before the attacks of 11 September 2001, Hamm counts thirty-eight cases of lone wolf terrorism — many cases involving multiple attacks, and in the past thirteen years, he isolated forty-five cases, most of which were single attacks.
No decade was deadlier than the 1990s — mostly because of the 1996 Olympics bombing, anti-abortion bombers, the return of the Unabomber and mass shooter Colin Ferguson, Hamm said.
An Indiana State University release reports that Hamm found that the targets, weapons, and motives have changed in recent years. Before 9/11, these terrorists used bombs, but now high-velocity firearms are the weapon of choice, he said. The change might be a result of legislation enacted after the Oklahoma City bombing limiting the public’s access to bomb-making ingredients.
Police and military personnel are now the preferred targets of modern lone wolf terrorists, Hamm said. Look at the Fort Hood and Los Angeles International Airport shootings or police assassin Richard Poplawski or Abdulhakim Muhammad (aka Carlos Bledsoe), who committed a drive-by shooting at an Army recruiting center.
Many of these attacks, too, are at close-range — “close, personal, high velocity” is how Hamm described Christopher Dorner’s attacks against police in California last year. Many pre-9/11 lone wolf terrorists never saw their victims or met them, Hamm said.
For example, Mark Essex killed five police officers and wounded five more in a 1973 shooting in New Orleans. In this attack, he stood on the roof of a hotel and shot at police. Poplawski, however, was so close to his victims, he said he could read their name badges.
For his research, Hamm defines a lone wolf terrorist by four characteristics: a person who perpetrates political violence, does not belong to (but often identifies with) an organized group such as al-Qaeda, acts alone (as opposed to the pair of Boston Marathon bombers), and does not commit violence out of grief or the pursuit of profit, vengeance, or fame.
Statistically, most lone wolf terrorists are white, unemployed single males with a criminal record, Hamm said. Because these terrorists are getting younger in the post-9/11 era, they have grown up in a
