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Saturday, February 24, 2018

It's Time For A Sober, Deliberate Review Of The Parkland School Shooting

Every Single Government Authority Failed In Parkland. And They Expect Americans To Forfeit Our Self-Defense Rights To Them?

Michael Laughlin/Sun Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images
On Thursday night, the American public learned two bombshell pieces of information regarding the Parkland, Florida mass shooting. First, we learned that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office was told in November that the Parkland shooter “could be a school shooter in the making” but deputies didn’t bother to write up a report; that report “came just weeks after a relative called urging BSO to seize his weapons.” Then, in even more shocking news, we learned that an armed school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School sat outside and waited for four minutes during the six minute attack that ended in the deaths of 17 human beings.
So, here’s what we know.
We know the FBI was warned specifically about the Parkland shooter not once, but twice — and did nothing.
We know the Broward County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the home of the Parkland shooter at least 39 times since 2010.
We know that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office was warned multiple times about the Parkland shooter.
We know that an armed officer was present during the shooting and did nothing — and that JROTC students showed far more courage.
And yet we are told that the solution to mass shootings is for law-abiding citizens to give more authority to the authorities that failed, and to turn over our only way of protecting ourselves?
Why in the world would a single law-abiding gun owner hand over his or her weapon to the same authorities that did nothing to protect the children of Parkland? Why would a single law-abiding gun owner turn over his or her capacity for self-defense to people who were incapable of defending children at every step of the way?
And why in the world should we blame the NRA, which literally had nothing to do with Parkland, for the failures of every institutional barrier to a massacre? Why should we blame law-abiding gun owners who didn’t shoot up kids for the failures of those who are paid to do stop evil monsters like the Parkland shooter? Why should we take Sheriff Steve Israel seriously when he blames lack of gun control, Dana Loesch, and the NRA, rather than his own radical incompetence and the radical incompetence of those under his authority?
Children are dead not because millions of good citizens own AR-15s, but because dozens of pathetic incompetents and cowards in a position to do something instead did nothing. All the misdirection in the world isn’t going to change that inconvenient fact.

This Is What The Anti-Gunners Are Thinking. The Fight Is Going To Get Very Tough


NYT Columnist’s Public Health Approach To Guns Suggests Ending Immunity For Gun Companies

Matt Vespa
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Posted: Feb 23, 2018 1:40 PM

NYT Columnist’s Public Health Approach To Guns Suggests Ending Immunity For Gun Companies
Okay—this was a slight improvement for The New York Times, but they still peddle the same tired anti-gun arguments. This month, Nicholas Kristof repeated some of the initiatives he put forward in his October 2017 column after the Las Vegas shooting. In the aftermath of the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last Wednesday; Kristof had a couple things that made sense, though his piece was mostly grounded in anti-gun talking points. He admits that the liberal approach to gun control has failed, but suggests a “public health approach,” which is essentially the same thing. 
He adds that America has a lot of guns. No kidding—it’s a constitutionally protected right. He goes off the rails when he says we have a model for regulation: cars.
IN OTHER NEWS
Trump calls for background checks, bump stock ban and mental health institutions


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We don’t ban cars, but we work hard to regulate them – and limit access to them – so as to reduce the death toll they cause. This has been spectacularly successful, reducing the death rate per 100 million miles driven by 95 percent since 1921.
Again, driving is not a right; it’s a privilege. And banning cars because of car crashes caused by irresponsible drunk drivers is just as idiotic as banning guns. If we were going to go down this road, looking at gun control through the framework of car sales, then it would be like adding more regulations to make it harder for sober people to buy cars to prevent drunk driving.
With gun policy, it’s not toxic masculinity. It’s mental illness, and I don’t mean that in the sense of someone with Asperger’s or autism. Most mentally ill people don’t attack people and most are more of a danger to themselves. We’re talking about instances, like Nikolas Cruz, where something was seriously off and nothing was done about.  If that means strengthening background checks regarding such behavior, I’m willing to have that discussion; Cruz, the Florida shooter, should have never been able to purchase a firearm.
At least, Kristof admits that the so-called assault weapons ban “accomplished little.” So, what’s the public health approach? Well, this is it [emphasis mine]:
Background Checks
22 percent of guns are obtained without one.
Protection Orders
Keep men who are subject to domestic violence protection orders from having guns.
Ban Under-21s
A ban on people under 21 purchasing firearms (this is already the case in many states).
Safe Storage
These include trigger locks as well as guns and ammunition stored separately, especially when children are in the house.
Straw Purchases
Tighter enforcement of laws on straw purchases of weapons, and some limits on how many guns can be purchased in a month.
Ammunition Checks
Experimentation with a one-time background check for anybody buying ammunition.
End Immunity
End immunity for firearm companies. That’s a subsidy to a particular industry.
Ban Bump Stocks
A ban on bump stocks of the kind used in Las Vegas to mimic automatic weapon fire.
Research ‘Smart Guns’
“Smart guns” fire only after a fingerprint or PIN is entered, or if used near a particular bracelet
Some states, like Delaware, already have passed tougher penalties for straw purchases. Bump stocks are not widely used and are mostly considered a novelty item. There are already laws requiring firearms to not be within the reach of children. Moreover, how will safe storage put a dent in curbing the already rare occurrence of mass shootings? Smart gun technology is another piece of window dressing that even Wired, a tech magazine, said wouldn’t reduce mass shootings. 
Where there could be some agreement is strengthening protection orders; you’re already banned from owning firearms upon domestic abuse convictions. No one wants wife beaters to have guns. The raising the age limit to 21 is another hot topic, but I’m inclined to be against it since it bars young Americans who are of voting age from defending themselves and exercising their civil rights. The age to purchase a long gun has been 18 for decades—and it’s becoming clearer by the day that the age limit for rifles wasn’t the issue. It was local and federal law enforcement who dropped the ball and missed multiple red flags on the shooter. 
Kristof does mention that deaths from mass shootings do not constitute the vast majority of gun deaths. That would be suicides. Though he does lament the expansion of concealed carry. He also says that there’s a shocking lack of research on guns, which isn’t necessarily true. He didn’t repeat the claim that it’s been shut down for 20 years, but progress on how to reduce gun violence has been made. They just don’t center on gun confiscation, assault weapons bans, and any of the other things anti-gun liberals like. 
The most troubling is the immunity for gun companies. Folks, there is no doubt that if President Bush didn’t pass the Protection of Lawful Commerce In Arms Act in 2005, we would have lawsuits aimed at gutting the gun industry and our Second Amendment rights with it.  As of now, you cannot sue a gun maker based on his product being unknowingly and unwillingly used by criminals who commit acts of violence. Now, provisions concerning defective safety issues, criminal misconduct (knowingly selling a firearm to a criminal for example), and other examples that constitute “negligent entrustment” do make parties liable, but suing a firearms maker because of a shooting by a criminal is all but shielded by litigation. It’s one of the best bills that protect our constitutional rights. And the anti-gun Left wants to gut it to open a backdoor to the elimination of the Second Amendment. 
The other things in the piece, like background checks, bans on violent criminals from owning guns, waiting periods, etc. are already on the books and wouldn’t stop future mass shootings. The barring of people on no-fly/terrorism watch lists is also shoddy. First, there’s no system of due process, you get on the list for merely being accused of doing something shady, which is highly arbitrary, and most people on these lists are not Americans so they can’t buy firearms. Even the LA Times editorial board thought this idea were an overreach. 
Make no mistake. We’re talking banning so-called assault weapons now, but calls for repealing PLCAA are coming. It happened on the campaign trail in 2016. It’s going to be unearthed again. 

Government Malfeasance. The Libs Want These People To Protect Us?

BREAKING: CNN Reports FOUR Broward County Deputies Waited Outside School As Children Were Massacred

Michele Eve Sandberg/Corbis via Getty Images
On Friday, CNN issued a shock report finding that earlier reports regarding Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson — the armed school safety officer who apparently cowered outside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School while a mass shooter slaughtered 17 people inside — were accurate, but that Peterson wasn’t the only officer waiting outside. According to CNN:
When Coral Springs police officers arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14 in the midst of the school shooting crisis, many officers were surprised to find not only that Broward County Sheriff's Deputy Scot Peterson, the armed school resource officer, had not entered the building, but that three other Broward County Sheriff's deputies were also outside the school and had not entered, Coral Springs sources tell CNN. The deputies had their pistols drawn and were behind their vehicles, the sources said, and not one of them had gone into the school.
So there were four armed officers outside the school. And none of them did anything, according to CNN. They instead waited for Coral Springs police to lead the charge inside.
What’s more, Coral Springs City Manager Mike Goodrum apparently chewed out Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel over that malfeasance on February 15 — more than a week ago. Which means that Israel knew full well that his own office had botched everything dramatically when he stood on stage with CNN’s Jake Tapper and a crowd of angry parents and community members and blamed the National Rifle Association and Dana Loesch for his own horrible failure.
Goodrum told CNN:
Given the horrific events of that day emotions were running high and the sheriff and I had a heated moment the following evening. Sheriff Israel and I have spoken several times since and I can assure you that our departments have a good working relationship and the utmost respect for each other.
This is repulsive. Israel should resign from office immediately. And CNN should be ashamed of itself for having allowed this self-aggrandizing political grandstander to shift blame onto people who had nothing to do with the shootings.

When You Are A Police Officer, You Run TOWARD The Problem

Armed Teacher Blasts Cowardly Deputies Who Refused to Stop Shooting

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One teacher who has been trained as a reserve deputy to carry on campus was shocked that deputies stood idle outside of the Florida school shooting and pointed out the benefits of having armed teachers on the inside.
A reserve county deputy and high school teacher in Arkansas who also serves as an assistant Sheriff’s Reserve Officer spoke to the Western Journal about carrying at his school on the request of anonymity so that he wouldn’t have a target put on his back.
“We currently have one officer assigned to our town, but it’s only a 10-hour shift and is only 2 hours of the school day,” he explained, adding that the response time range from the county to their school would be 15 to 30 minutes at best.
“So it’s crucial we have people on campus that are trained and prepared for an active shooter.”
At the high school where he works, there are three people including himself who carry a weapon on campus. One is a full-time deputy that serves as a Sheriff’s Reserve Officer and the other is another armed deputy teacher.

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President Donald Trump said that having armed teachers on campus could help defend students in a speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
The president said that after listening to the families of victims in last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida and law enforcement officials earlier this week, he believes one necessary response is arming gun-adept teachers and school officials with concealed carry weapons.
The Arkansas high school teacher told The Western Journal that he agrees with him.
“Having other teachers trained and concealed carry would be tremendously useful in a crisis. The teachers would need to be selected and put through evaluations much like an officer and trained in active shooter response.”

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Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson and three other Sheriff’s deputies have been reported to have been outside of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School without confronting the shooter.
Coral Springs unnamed sources told CNN that the deputies had their pistols drawn, but were behind their vehicles outside the school when Coral Springs police officers arrived.
When Coral Springs officers arrived on site, they entered the building and were later joined by new Broward County Sheriff’s deputies.
According to CNN, Coral Springs police were “stunned and upset” that the original deputies on scene did not join them inside the school.
RELATED: Mistaken for Gun, Math Symbol Has Students Calling Police
The Arkansas armed teacher responded to these reports with disbelief.
“I can not believe or understand how a law enforcement officer could stand by idly while kids are being gunned down,” he told The Western Journal. “How could he say he believed he was doing right? He should be held accountable for his lack of action. Every Law Enforcement Officer in this nation knows that after Columbine you are trained to go to the threat and eliminate it.”
He continued, “I have been trained as an instructor in ALICE which is active shooter response training program and I help instruct our teachers on what to do in case of an emergency. In this training and other law enforcement training, you are taught to address the immediate threat head-on. You do not wait, you do not secure the perimeter, you do not stop to help others. You go to the gunfire.”
What do you think?