Posted on 02/20/2018 5:24:52 AM PST by Kaslin
Here we go again. This time it was at a high school in Florida. It has become depressingly familiar. Not just the horrific shooting, but also the words that come after something like this.
Officials assure us that the victims and their families are in their thoughts and prayers. Then come the calls for more restrictions on guns. Then we get the reminders that if we see something we need to say something. It's all so predictable.
But by now we know something else that's predictable: It's going to happen again -- if not at a school, then at a concert or a nightclub or a restaurant or an airport or even at a church.
Nikolas Cruz had been expelled from school for getting into a fight with another student. Kids who knew him said if anyone were ever going to shoot the place up, he would be the kid who did just that. And last September a comment left on social media said, "I'm going to be a professional school shooter." The name underneath the message: Nikolas Cruz.
A bail bondsman from Mississippi saw the comment and called the FBI. Five months later, just one day after the shooting, an FBI agent said, "No other information was included in the comment which would indicate a particular time, location, or the true identity of the person who posted the comment." The FBI said it reviewed databases and made other checks, but was, according to the agency, unable to identify the person who posted the comment.
It gets worse. A day after that announcement, the FBI admitted that on Jan. 5, a tipster who knew Cruz called the FBI and provided information about Cruz's guns, his desire to kill people, his erratic behavior and his disturbing social media posts. The FBI says the caller was concerned that Cruz might attack a school. CARTOONS | Lisa Benson View Cartoon
The tip should have been investigated, according to the FBI. It was not.
So much for "If you see something, say something." And so much for what some have called the "Best law enforcement agency in the world."
But even if the FBI had shown more competence and had found Cruz, what could its agents have done? They can't lock somebody up for posting disturbing remarks -- certainly not if he told them he was only kidding. Even people who eventually go on a killing spree have free speech rights.
And he bought his gun, a semi-automatic AR-15, legally. Sure he was mentally deranged -- nobody in his right mind does what he did -- but being a loner and a troublemaker who loves guns isn't a legal barrier to buying one.
And while everyone agrees mentally ill people shouldn't be allowed to buy guns, how do we determine that someone is mentally ill until he does something that really proves it?
Do we want laws compelling mental health professionals to report the names to a national data bank of anyone they're seeing for anger issues? For anyone who might go off the rails? Do we want laws that allow police and federal agents to lock people up if they give signs of mental illness -- but have not been violent? Do we want laws that prohibit the posting of gun pictures on social media -- or laws that ban vaguely threatening speech?
The same people who want more restrictions on guns would never sit still for more restrictions on speech or fewer restrictions on privacy.
So maybe the laws need to change. Maybe people like Nikolas Cruz should have been held a long time ago and forced to undergo a psychiatric exam. In retrospect, that might have done some good. But it's an idea loaded with the possibility of abuse.
There's already the predictable talk about banning AR-15s, the so-called assault rifles. They're not needed to protect families from intruders, the argument goes; hunters don't need them. Maybe something will happen this time, but it's not likely.
We can beef up security at our schools and that might help. But last November, 26 people were gunned down in Sutherlands Springs, Texas -- at the First Baptist Church. Do we need armed guards at prayer services all over America, too?
The problem -- and "problem" is not the right word -- is that we live in a free country. And in a free country we can lock up criminals after they commit crimes -- not before.
So let's tighten security at every school in the country; let's have the same familiar conversation about guns; let's all agree that mentally ill people should not be allowed to buy guns. Let's try to put an end to this American tragedy.
And then let's acknowledge that not much is going to change despite the fact that 17 more people are dead. We can tell the victims that they're in our thoughts and prayers, and after a while we'll resume our normal daily lives -- until it happens again. And we all know it will.
Yes, the Hero Coach did the only thing he could do. He was set up to be a sacrificial lamb by bureaucratic stupidity.
In this facilities case, their security system should be brought to public scrutiny . Particularly of the policies employed. For starters this school has a so called “gun free zone”. It does have a parking lot officer who may be armed assigned to patrol the multi acre site in a golf cart , but bans guns from the rest of its internal security .
Because of these Ding Bat liberal policies it brings up another question. Just how safe and secure are those kids ? There’s a lot of krap that happens; Assaults, fights, thefts, books and items stolen, drug use teachers accosted, kids intimidated....
Examine records reporting how student vs student, and student vs teacher altercations, vandalism, and thefts, which are bound to occur are being dealt with.
Because in an educational unit this size it’s pretty clear their security system failed . In a secure system Cruz would have never gotten inside.
Liberals yelling for more gun laws/control?
Why the question? You know they are.
Because we know that’s what they’ll do.
R’s are too, just heard a south Florida Congresscritter on FBN talk about all the things that need done, including NICS for all transfers. Did not say one word about mental health.
There are some R’s who would not mind if guns were confiscated, they would take longer.
Things are going to get interesting.
Someone brought this up the other day. Not all police are proficient in the use of firearms, nor are a significant portion of military - yeah, many have to qualify, but then that's it. No more proficiency training. I'd rather it be concealed carry folks, who've passed a better background check than just a 4473 check, and those who can demonstrate the proper proficiency.
Kinda a Catch 22.
After every school shooting, there is an immediate flare up of epic stupidity, followed by no effective measure being taken, followed by waiting for the next one, which is inevitable.
I’m so sick of it.
I literally do not care anymore. Doesn’t move my Giveashit Meter at all.
Don’t want to defend them? Then don’t cry when you lose them.
Simple as that.
“I’d rather it be concealed carry folks, who’ve passed a better background check than just a 4473 check, and those who can demonstrate the proper proficiency.”
Problem with that is it becomes a race to see how many the shooter can take down before the concealed carry finds the shooter. Teachers carrying is a good step, but is a stop gap measure.
The real solution is lock down while class is in session.
Here’s a fact that is overlooked. This $hit didn’t happen when I was a kid in high school. Best we take a look at when the insanity began. Society has been so messed up by today’s liberals that I’m not surprised at what we are seeing. It’s criminal that liberals will accuse law abiding decent citizens for the issues rather than their own policies that excuse every perp of wrongdoing.
My response was to a call to use retired police/former military. I was simply mentioning that just because someone is former police/military, it doesn't mean they're proficient.
I don't care who is carrying on campus, as long as they've passed the background check and can prove proficiency. If that includes teachers, then so be it. It's the proficiency I'm looking for. Not only must the shooter be stopped, but the person attempting the stop should be proficient enough to not cause additional casualties.
>> Put retired police and military to work as school security guards who are armed <<
OK, but probably would not be nearly as cost-effective as having a handful of regular staff members at every school who are well-trained concealed carriers — just as they do in Israel.
(And how many school shootings have they had in Israel lately? Apparently none.)
>> What precisely was he doing while people were dying? <<
When seconds count, the police are only a few minutes away.
Yep, there’s one R donor that says he won’t donate to R’s until they ban guns? OTOH, if all laws were obeyed, we’d never need prisons; libs believe that writing a law will prevent crime.
That is why we preach and teach “salvation comes from knowing and choosing to follow Christ Jesus, not your own basic goodness!”
“...but the person attempting the stop should be proficient enough to not cause additional casualties.”
Agreed. And that possibility futher bolsters the lock down solution.
9 months ago, Cruz commented on a YouTube documentary on the Texas Tower Shooting, writing, “I’m going to do the same.” There are screen shots of this available.
Cruz premeditated this St.V-day massacre for a very long time. This was his true interest in enrolling in ROTC - obtaining free convenient access to marksmanship training.
“By definition criminals break laws.” Yes and Cruz did and was not punished. Surely the Parkland school wanted to discipline Cruz. However, their hands were tied by the district’s asinine policy.
Victims and their families should be outraged at their school’s discipline code and preparing to sue the BC School board and Sheriff’s office for this collaboration. Nikolas Cruz was never busted at school because of the 2013 NAACP collaborative discipline policy:
Broward County’s School Discipline ‘Agreement” signed by the Sheriff, State Atty and local judges. Its purpose is to keep minority juvenile delinquents out of prison by NOT enforcing Florida state laws in schools.
These various behaviors will NOT result in suspension or expulsion or notification to the police. Instead they receive warnings, lectures and possible stern scolding!
The infractions include -All student misbehavior and these non-violent infractions:
Disrupting or Interfering with class
Affray - fighting in a public place
Theft if less than $300
Vandalism damages < $1,000
Disorderly conduct
Trespassing, Loitering or Prowling
Criminal Mischief
Gambling
Harrassment or Threats
Alcohol -all related offenses
Possession of Cannabis
Drug Paraphernalia
Obstructing Justice w/out Violence
“Go ahead kids. Smoke pot, booze it up, fight, THREATEN a teacher and tear the bloody place up! The NAACP & Broward County got your back. Since your family has failed to discipline, a sanctuary law-breaking program shields you at your school.”
YESTERDAY-— Gov Jerry Brown signed into a law a ruling that says NO person can use a gun on a school campus to STOP a person shooting a gun on a school campus.
Parents in Calif: If you dive a damn about your kids——MOVE the hell out of Calif.
Your Governor hates your kids. But he loves them illegals swarming across the border !!!
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