U.S. news service The Atlantic stated in an article that it can be alternately assessed as glorifying gun violence and also as fighting against it, with journalist Spencer Kornhaber arguing that Eminem's deliberate embodying of the mass shooter's point-of-view throughout "Darkness" made it ethically flawed overall.

[3] CNN.com published an article regarding the song as "a poignant call for expanded gun control", noting the broader context of the artist's "outspoken" past ventures into U.S. politics such as criticizing the invasion of Iraq and other violent actions undertaken by then President George W. Bush in the 2000s.

[1] Commentator Eddie Fu, a staff writer at the musical publication Genius, wrote: "The track channels the perspective of Stephen Paddock— who killed 60 people in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting— to make a point about gun control.

"[4] Besides being an explicitly socio-political protest song that condemns gun violence in the United States, "Darkness" additionally invokes the related cultural issues in America of psychological anxiety and substance abuse.

[1][3] The outro explicitly references other violent incidents beyond what happened in Las Vegas, Nevada, particularly noting the headline-making attacks in both Annapolis, Maryland and Dayton, Ohio.

At the beginning of the third verse, the person takes off the hood and reveals himself to be Stephen Paddock, the man behind the Las Vegas shooting, before opening fire on the concert-goers from the hotel window.

With journalist Spencer Kornhaber arguing that Eminem's deliberate embodying of the mass shooter's point-of-view throughout "Darkness" made it ethically flawed overall, the publication highlighted a negative social context given that "the internet rewards audiovisual spectacle" and thus reenacting crimes in a dramatic fashion has nuanced effects.

[3] CNN.com published an article regarding the song as "a poignant call for expanded gun control", noting the broader context of the artist's "outspoken" past ventures into U.S. politics.