Free Republic

An op-ed writer in The Washington Post says that if teachers are armed, they will be inclined to execute black and Hispanic children. How long would it be, if Trump's plan became reality, before a teacher shoots a black student and then invokes the "I feared for my life" defense we continually hear from police officers who misinterpret young black people's behavior with deadly consequences? A mountain of data on persistent racial biases and disparities in education and on police presence in schools – as well as a recent increase in racial harassment in schools – makes it clear that kids...

Three high-ranking Florida officials close to the law enforcement response at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tell Fox News there was a delay in Emergency Medical Service getting into the school in the critical moments after Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire, killing 17 people and wounding at least 14 others. Two separate sources told Fox News some of the EMS teams who requested to enter the school were told they could not. One source said it was the Broward County Sheriff’s Office – which was the commanding office – that ordered some of the EMS crews not to go...

Talk about a facepalm moment. Is it the media’s stupidity or stacking sandbags because they know this National Rifle Association initiative could gain traction? You decide. The NRA wants more armed guards in schools. Teachers should be allowed to carry as well. After the tragic Sandy Hook shooting, the school board voted to approve this proposal. This is not an alien concept. A lot of schools have resource officers; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of the most recent school shooting on February 14, had such officers. They failed to engage the shooter, Nikolas Cruz. Scores of teachers in...

When some major police incident occurs, it is most often my practice to withhold comment until I can be sure that most of the facts surrounding it have been revealed. A horrific event like a school shooting like that which occurred in Parkland, Fla., arouses the impulse to weigh in with opinions based on incomplete or even false information. It is best to resist this impulse. Others, of course, with endless hours of air time to fill, and with agendas to push along, are unable to resist it. There may be more egregious examples of this, but I don’t see...

“I think it is time to have a conversation about what the right to bear arms means in the modern world,” Rice told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Friday...More specifically, Rice said weapons like the AR-15...shouldn't be available to civilians, the Washington Times reported...Rather, she supports looking to law enforcement and guards as ways for protection.

WASHINGTON — Few places have seen the National Rifle Association wield its might more effectively than Florida, where it has advanced a sweeping agenda that has made it easier to carry concealed weapons, given gun owners greater leeway to shoot in self-defense and even briefly barred doctors from asking patients about their firearms. To many of its opponents, that decades-long string of victories is proof that the N.R.A. has bought its political support. But the numbers tell a more complicated story: The organization’s political action committee over the last decade has not made a single direct contribution to any current...

Student David Hogg filmed this video while his Florida high school was on lockdown because of an active shooter on campus Feb. 14. "Thousands of people have died from gun violence and it's time to take a stand," Hogg said, citing the need for stronger gun control laws. Seventeen people were killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

With stunning poise and steely confidence, Cameron Kasky, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, confronted U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., live on CNN on Wednesday evening. “Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the (National Rifle Association)?” he demanded. In the arena where the town hall event was held, the crowd of some 7,000 — most of them connected to the school community that was shattered when a gunman killed 17 during a Feb. 14 rampage — stood and cheered for more than 20 seconds. After a bit of back-and-forth,...

Danish prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen in a Twitter post on Wednesday encouraged US president Donald Trump to listen to calls for action over gun crime in the United States. The message from the Danish PM came as the US president listened to pleas for gun reform on Wednesday in a White House meeting with about 40 students, teachers and family members of victims, including from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed on February 14th. “Do not intend to interfere, but allow me to give a Danish perspective: please, respond to the...

Bloomberg stuff.Link Only.

Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), who filed legislation banning bump stocks — which allows gun owners to turn semi-automatic weapons into automatic weapons, told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday that he supports raising the minimum age to buy semi-automatic weapons, like the one used in the Florida school shooting. “I also support raising the minimum age. If an 18-year-old, a 19-year-old can’t buy a handgun — oh, and by the way, they also can’t buy a beer at a restaurant — why can they buy these powerful long guns that are capable of inflicting so much damage as we saw...

....support for stricter gun control laws is at an all-time high among American voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. Those in favor of stricter gun legislation outnumber those opposed by a measure of more than two-to-one, according to the poll.... ....among gun owners, with 50% in favor and 44% not, according to the poll....

Police: Man Found With IED Arrested; Home Searched Hazardous Materials Team Removes Chemicals From Pittsburgh Home PITTSBURGH -- SNIPPET: "When police searched the man's Parkview Street home in the city's Oakland neighborhood, they said officers found chemicals for making explosives devices. Police described the chemicals as extremely dangerous."