Free Republic

No Class: We’ve always been sympathetic to former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., after she survived a mass shooting incident at a campaign event in January 2011. That’s a horrific thing to experience and we sympathize with all victims of violence, no matter what the cause. But her gun control organization has gone too far in a new campaign aimed at flipping pro-gun rights congressional districts: It is using 3-D statuettes of a child cowering under a school desk to depict an “active shooter” situation.

There Were No FISA Court Hearings on Carter Page Warrants Most School Shootings in Federal Report Just Didn’t Happen Portland Mayor Endorses an Attack on Law Enforcement There Were No FISA Court Hearings on Carter Page Warrants No wonder the Deep Staters plotting the overthrow of Donald Trump were able to get as far as they did. The secret court meant to protect all of us from the government’s massive spy machinery was asleep at the switch. At least, I hope that’s all it was. In response to our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit , the Department of...

... The Civil Rights Data Collection for 2018 required every public school — more than 96,000 — to answer questions on a wide range of issues. It asked what sounded like a simple question: In the 2015-2016 school year, “Has there been at least one incident at your school that involved a shooting (regardless of whether anyone was hurt)?” The answer — “nearly 240 schools (0.2 percent of all schools)” — was published this spring. The government’s definition included any discharge of a weapon at school-sponsored events or on school buses. Even so, that would be a rate of shootings,...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – State prosecutors' motion to detain five adults arrested after a raid in northern New Mexico earlier this month was denied by a judge on Monday. Judge Sarah Backus made the determination the suspects weren't a danger to the community following several hours of testimony and evidence being presented by prosecutors. Siraj Wahhaj, Hujrah Wahhaj, Lucas Morton, Jany Leveille and Subhannah Wahhaj each face 11 counts of child abuse, after 11 children were found living in deplorable conditions at the site. Each suspect will have a $20,000 bond and will have to wear ankle monitors. In addition, they...

The father of a missing 3-year-old who was arrested at a New Mexico compound linked to "extremist Muslims" last week was training children to commit school shootings, court documents filed on Wednesday revealed. Prosecutors allege Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 39, was conducting weapons training on the compound, where 11 children were found hungry and living in squalor. They asked Wahhaj, who appeared in court on Wednesday, be held without bail.Wahhaj is the son of a Brooklyn imam, also named Siraj Wahhaj, who was named by prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the New York Post...

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), a Washington-based think tank, on Friday released their Action Plan to Reduce Gun Violence following a Thursday meeting with the nation’s big-city police chiefs."The recommendations recognize that solving the gun violence problem is not the responsibility of one entity or one level of government," the recommendation guide said. "There is a role for everyone on the gun issue: individuals (legal gun owners and non-gun owners alike); law enforcement personnel; prosecutors; judges; state governments; the federal government; family and friends of people who may be in crisis; researchers; the philanthropic community; and the community at...

Republican Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee recently cited pornography, along with the deterioration of the family and violent movies, as a contributing factor to gun violence in schools. Black made the remarks during a listening session with local pastors last week. "Why do we see kids being so violent? What's out there? What makes them do that?" Black said. "Because, as a nurse, I go back to root cause. And I think it's a couple things," Black said, listing off deterioration of the family and violent movies, before mentioning pornography. "Pornography. It's available. It's available on the shelf when you...

SANTA FE, Tex. — The exact reasons a teenage gunman shot his fellow students and teachers here at Santa Fe High School remain a mystery. His model for carrying it out is more clear. The 17-year-old junior wore a black trench coat and fired a sawed-off shotgun, the same attire and weaponry used by the two gunmen who killed a dozen students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999. He wore a T-shirt with the phrase “Born to Kill” on it in bold, similar in design to those worn by the Columbine attackers, which read “Wrath”...

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) said that pornography is partially to blame for gun violence in schools. The GOP lawmaker made the comment during a listening session with local pastors last week while discussing several factors that she said contribute to increased gun violence. “Why do we see kids being so violent?” she asked, according to a recording of her comments obtained by HuffPost. “What makes them do that?” Black, who is running for Tennessee governor, blamed the increase in school shootings on “deterioration of the family,” “violent movies” and “pornography,” though she did not specify what effect pornography had. “It’s...

The New York Times seemed to think it was bitterly ironic that some of the students at Santa Fe High School, site of the recent mass shooting, had staged a walkout last month in support of the Parkland, Florida, students. But now, only a month later, one of the students who participated in the walkout is in the hospital from yet another school shooting. I suppose we could revel in the irony, but, as a more results-oriented person, what I take from that vignette is that school walkouts are not effective deterrents to school shootings. I’m not sure the poems...

It’s been three short months since the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, left 17 people dead , and America has suffered from yet another school shooting. This time in Santa Fe, Texas, where 10 people were gunned down on Friday. As we’ve come to expect, it’s trending on every social media platform and news outlet, as people gear up with the latest arguments and narratives and wait – although, not always – for the facts to emerge. Rather than partake in the mud-slinging, I believe it’s time to reevaluate our solutions and look to government for the answer, by...

One telling detail keeps escaping the men and women of words who would end school shootings by one expedient or another: gun control, better security, the arming of teachers, more careful vetting of potential gunmen and so forth. The detail of which I speak: We didn't use to endure this horror. It didn't happen. The urgent question that flows from this detail: Why not? Well, to start with, because things were different, prior to the shooting fests, which break so many hearts and generate so much despair. Right, yes -- but different in what way? I will take a crack...

On another terrible day, I hate to introduce even more pessimism, but when we discuss mass shootings, one of the first questions we ask is the simplest and also the hardest to answer. Why? Why does this keep happening? Those who advocate for gun control have an immediate answer — the prevalence of guns in the United States. Yet guns have been part of the fabric of American life for the entire history of our republic. Mass shootings — especially the most deadly mass shootings — are a far more recent phenomenon. But Granovetter thought it was a mistake to...

Require all Schools get insurance for students while on school property. Why? Because look what is required for you to have employees on your property. The Insurance Company's underwriters require that you pay insurance rates that are subject to the likelihood that they will sustain a claim. What does this mean, 1. those insured take steps to reduce their rates such as taking steps that are identified by insurers that reduce their risk. 2. those who are extremely risky can't obtain insurance and therefore can't have students. 3. the insurance companies investigate all claims to determine the root cause to...

Teenagers armed themselves with a megaphone and gathered outside the Governor’s Mansion in downtown Austin Sunday night to try and get attention for their cause. “Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, Texas legislators -- for as long as this is happening, we will stand to make sure that common-sense gun laws are enacted,” yelled one of the speakers through the device... The students also staged a “die-in,” laying down on the ground for 23 minutes as if they were dead -- one minute for every school shooting since the start of the school year... These students also want to end the culture...

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said there was not “a single piece of legislation” that would have prevented the recent school shooting in Texas. Warner said, “I don’t think there’s a single piece of legislation, but there’s a series of actions. Are there things we can do that would improve the safety of our schools? Absolutely.” He continued, “Should there be more mental health counseling for troubled teens, the number of the incidents caused by young men time and time again? Absolutely. Making sure people are safer with their own firearms? Absolutely.

This is the cause behind the increase of school shootings. “We know that SSRI treatment can trigger mood changes in undiagnosed young bipolar patients resulting in agitation and disinhibition, and such effects may lead to suicide and violence.”

In the wake of today’s Texas school shooting, Chris Matthews, on his MSNBC show this evening, suggested that South Africans look down on the US, wondering “what’s with America?” Matthews might have wanted to check his stats before Blaming America First. Intentional homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants: United States: 4.88, South Africa: 34.27. That’s right: the homicide rate in South Africa is more than seven times that in the US.Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Should teachers and staff at schools be armed? John Stossel and Maxim Lott put together a video analyzing the question. The CPRC’s research was used in putting the video together. More information on concealed handguns at schools is available here. There were a couple of nitpicks with the discussion. The accidental discharge in California occurred at a firearms training class outside of normal school hours. It was not a typical school environment. It would also have been helpful if the video mentioned that 18 states currently have teachers and staff who can carry permitted concealed handguns, though the rules vary...

Broward County, Fla., school officials portray as a great success their Obama administration-inspired program offering counseling to students who break the law, instead of having them arrested or expelled. They insist that it played no role in February’s school massacre by Nikolas Cruz. They also claim that in fact juvenile recidivism rates are down and school safety is up, thanks to the program. The evidence tells a far different story. Broward County juvenile justice division records, federal studies of Broward school district safety and the district's own internal reporting show that years of “intensive" counseling didn’t just fail to reform...