U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- My heart sinks every time I see breaking news announce another school shooting. It’s like a gut punch – the lost lives, the suffering of the wounded, the horrors the First Responders must encounter, and the families that will never again be whole.
The blame and blood-dancing usually start before the bodies are even recovered. The talking heads call to ban or further regulate firearms, magazines or accessories in common usage as if the contents of my gun safe located thousands of miles from the crime scene somehow played a role in the killings.
Politicians will gleefully announce new infringements, none of which could have prevented the mass murder, but that is never their intent. They were eagerly awaiting another opportunity to do something that will score points with their base and their donors, as well as disarm law-abiding Americans.
Keep in mind that more than three times as many people die each year from excessive alcohol use than from firearms, yet no one is calling to ban bourbon or vodka, because the booze-ban industry died on Dec. 5, 1933, while the gun-ban industry sputters on. Their misguided efforts have no chance of ever stopping mass murders because they are solely fixated on banning an inanimate object, while ignoring the person pulling the trigger and those who help facilitate the crime.
In my humble opinion, if we truly want to stop school shootings we should harden the staff, not just the buildings, and we should focus on the other bad actors, too, not just the trigger-pullers. It’s time to start holding parents, law enforcement and the legacy media strictly accountable – criminally, morally and very publicly – for aiding and abetting these preventable deaths.
Parents
I guarantee more parents will take an interest in the websites their children frequent or the videos they’re downloading the first time they see other parents charged with accessory to murder. They will ensure their firearms are safely stored when they see other parents arrested for aiding and abetting. They will take a sudden interest in the video games their children are playing or pay attention to significant changes in their behavior once police start making arrests for what is the ultimate in criminal neglect –allowing a child to commit mass murder.
Nowadays, children are bombarded by stimuli completely undreamed of by previous generations. Some are good, but many are very bad, if not pure evil. As a result, parenting requires more vigilance than ever before. This is a fact, but it’s not an excuse. Today, if a parent ignores obvious signs their child needs help, allows unauthorized access to weapons and lives are lost, they should pay for their mistakes in prison.
Law Enforcement
How many mass murderers have been known to the FBI or local law enforcement? Most of them. These killers usually have a long history of indicator crimes, which often go completely ignored.
Law enforcement needs to improve how they track potential mass murderers.
Years ago, a few forward-thinking police departments formed career criminal squads. It was their job to follow and hound to death the truly bad hombres who were responsible for a majority of the crime. These units were effective. The civil libertarians hated them, but the bad guys soon tired of the frequent contacts with law enforcement and straightened up or moved on. It’s time to resurrect this model.
Officers today need to understand if they encounter a potential mass shooter or even suspect someone might fit the profile, their responsibility for the safety of the public doesn’t stop when their shift ends.
That’s exactly what happened with the Parkland murderer, whose name does not merit mention.
Law enforcement had 39 contacts with this soulless demon in just seven years. Each officer took a report and moved on. No one took any responsibility, including the FBI.
After this mass murderer posted on social media his goal was to become a “professional school shooter,” an FBI agent asked him a couple questions – over the phone – and that was it. The FBI’s investigation ended. So much for Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity, the much-ballyhooed essence of the FBI.
In a perfect world, agents would have interviewed this hellion in his home, searched his room and seized his computer, phone, journals and, of course, any weapons he had access to. The feds should have made him their top priority. He threatened to shoot up a school! Instead, he was hardly a blip on their radar. This pattern of ineptitude has happened over and over again at every level – federal, state and local.
Everyone with a badge in their billfold who encounters a potential mass shooter should be fired if lives are ever lost because they failed to act. That is how serious law enforcement should take these individuals. This reprioritization should be inculcated throughout the entire department. If an officer can’t handle the added responsibility, they should quit. The stakes are too high to allow anyone to fail.
The same standard should apply if law enforcement fails to act during a mass shooting. Parkland and Uvalde taught us the high price that’s paid when cowards don a badge and gun. Police are issued tactical gear for a reason, and it’s not to loiter around a school hallway playing games on their phones while children are being murdered a few doors down. Unfortunately, there’s no way to identify or screen for cowardice until it’s too late.
Strict accountability is the only way to ensure law enforcement takes every encounter with a potential mass shooter seriously. A lack of time, resources or manpower can no longer serve as an excuse. After all, how could any other law enforcement mission be more important than tracking suspects who could potentially murder kids?
Legacy Media
How many times have you heard cable TV news actors speculating about a possible motive after a mass killing?
These murderers are crazy. That’s the answer. They don’t have a real motive. Their actions are incomprehensible. There’s no way for a rational mind to truly understand the actions of an irrational one. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop the legacy media from mindlessly speculating, since mindless speculating is what they do.
The media often defaults to bullying as the cause of the carnage – as if every kid who’s ever bullied picks up a gun. Unfortunately, once it’s repeated too many times, some children start identifying with these mass murderers, especially if they’ve been bullied or have other problems fitting in.
Combine this with 24/7 coverage – including the murderer’s favorite websites, games, and even music – and the media has successfully given the killers a near cult-like following, which is exactly what they wanted, and the deadly cycle is bound to repeat itself.
If the legacy media had never named the Columbine killers, much less described how they dressed, what they wrote in their journals, and who they listened to while plotting their murderous assault, they could never have inspired other troubled teens to commit similar barbaric acts. Countless lives would have been spared and hundreds of families would not be grieving today. There’s no debating that.
This is not a call for censorship. The last thing we need is more government intrusion into our lives. Instead, it’s time for some self-restraint by the legacy media.
It’s very easy to hold the legacy media accountable for overblown coverage of a terrible tragedy. Simply change the channel. If enough of us do, they’ll get the message, eventually. It will take time. They’re somewhat of a thickheaded bunch.
Armed Staff
Nowadays, school administrators have focused on hardening their facilities, not their staff. Regardless of how secure a school campus is, Uvalde taught us that a determined maniac can always get in. Legislation that would allow teachers, staff and other volunteers to arm themselves – regardless of their state of residence – would save lives.
Another option that is operating with great success in Florida is the School Guardian Program. School Guardians are not police. They’re not School Resource Officers. They don’t teach classes. They’re not responsible for discipline or counseling. They don’t have office hours or other distractions. Their only responsibility is to shoot bad guys who want to harm kids.
Many of Florida’s School Guardians are combat veterans. They’ve proven they can use deadly force when it’s required. They’re issued a plate carrier, a handgun, and a carbine, and are trained (certified) by local sheriffs. They take their jobs extremely seriously, and they’re easy to spot. They patrol outside the school in the morning as kids are dropped off, and in the afternoon when they’re picked up. So far, no school with a Guardian has been attacked.
Gun-free zones have always been magnets for mayhem. It’s time to end this, put politics aside, and protect our kids.
This story is presented by the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and wouldn’t be possible without you. Please click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support more pro-gun stories like this.
About Lee Williams
Lee Williams, who is also known as “The Gun Writer,” is the chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project. Until recently, he was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. He’s earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.
leo’s hold the most blame in this situation, followed by the lame stream media complex, then parents. the breakdown of the nuclear family, a by-product of leftist ideology has fueled a huge number of single mother families, and we know that no father figure in the family is a great predictor of many bad things. when i went to school there was shooting clubs in school and kids had rifles in a rack on the back window and there were no mass shootings. my son played shooting video games, like call of duty and never shot anyone, joined the marines… Read more »
Agreed! Wonder why your comment has 3 negative reviews. For schools, at minimum security protocol must be stressed and enforced. Example: Years ago we would sneak out for a cigarette. After remote doors were alarmed with outside video, that came to an abrupt halt.
Yup, you take it all the way back to Lyndon Baines Johnson.
What do you do when yoir grandson has issues? When he’s made threats? When he’s had several contacts with leo’s? When he’s been evaluated 3 times for making threats and the hospital says we’ll he’s calm now. Take him home and follow up with your primary physician.? When his anger issues has caused his uncle to go to jail for protecting his grandfather and himself? Because I do have several firearms, he is not allowed at my house. The last outburst he had with me was him saying, I quote, “You’re lucky I don’t know where your guns at. I’d… Read more »
LEO’s will respond when the local, state, and federal laws will allow them to do so. From my perspective, we elect politicians who are much too concerned about the political electability persona and so they try to not offend anyone by creatine laws that are enforceable, designed to protect the public.
There’s the problem, people are afraid to offend someone so they say nothing. In todays society we’re all afraid of law suits and (heaven forbid) defaming another’s character. In this litigious atmosphere we don’t confront psychos but allow them to hurt others. The news media should report whenever there is a mass shooting that “a deranged nut case” was the offender not an alleged person of interest. Don’t make them famous, that’s what they want. Make them feel small and insignificant and stress their abnormal mental state. Nowadays these jerks think they’re important if their faces and names are plastered… Read more »
Sir: Lock up your firearms, at least those that you don’t personally carry whenever he is anywhere near you or your home and the same should be done at his home – for everyone’s sake. Then, discipline your grandson and have his father and mother do the same. It sounds like he’s a 2 yr old who thinks he is a teenager and he is throwing a fit like a spoiled baby. It’s better to do this sooner than later because, if you wait, the cops WILL get involved hopefully before he hurts someone. In AZ. there is something called… Read more »
@Deplorable bill. Yes sir. I am a former cop who unfortunately had a bad motorcycle accident 9 years ago. He is not allowed at my house right now and won’t be for the foreseeable future. His parents doesn’t have any firearms due to pawning any that has been in their possession. Of course I find out after the fact. That is the problem, he is 13 and hasn’t had to ever answer for his actions. He’s always been the chosen one out of 2 other siblings. They live about 45 minutes away from me and are helicopter parents. When my… Read more »
Very sorry to hear this. Things go down hill fast when kids forget Sir and Mam. C.P.S. is supposed to help the kids but mostly what they do is empower them to make very bad decisions. Because of C.P.S. many parents are afraid to discipline their children and we see things like this as a result. Without disciplining their children parents don’t truly love them. What LOVING parent would not do anything required to keep their children from playing in traffic? The situation you describe is just as dire. Spare the rod and spoil the child. This usually leads to… Read more »
Teachers and administrators need to be held accountable as well. As a substitute I took knives, lighters, porn, and other contraband away from students. Their backpacks and lockers are not covered by privacy laws. The teachers, counselors, and administrators knew about Nichols Cruz and the kid in Michigan and did nothing. Cruz should have been in prison long before his shooting and should have been detained the minute he set foot on campus. A simple check of the kid’s backpack would have prevented the Michigan shooting. School staff are supposed to be the adults in the room.
The Left don’t WANT the shootings to stop – these are the “crisis” that fuel their agenda. They keep a roster of whack-jobs on deck for this exact purpose. Every time there’s a push for more gun control, a mass-shooting or two just “magically” pops out of the ground … almost like they were … planned … I’m not sure I can agree with going after the parents, although they are at least partially culpable. At least look at them hard if they were ignoring all the signs. I have a nephew who was a hellion – busted at 11… Read more »
I’ll agree with this. My grandson is 13 and my daughter is trying nut not getting any help. She is more scared of COS doing something with her other two kids.
He has always been the chosen one by his dad and didn’t ever have to take responsibility for his actions. When she’d try to discipline, he would let him off.
Now they can’t figure out where they went wrong.
I like the Utah model (where they haven’t had any school shootings): let anyone with a concealed handgun permit carry in schools. No special training. It creates one hell of a deterrence. Who does the bad guy shoot first? He has no idea who and where all the other potentially armed teachers, staff, visitors, and workers are located. He shoots a teacher and the janitor pulls a gun and blows the bad guy away. A classroom with only one door, as most have, is very easy to defend. Not rocket science at all.
I agree, anywhere you see a sign “firearms prohibited” you will also see mass shootings. The left took the deterrent away and made them open killing fields. It is time to take our schools, malls, and churches back to being safe places to go! Guns do not have the ability to pull their own triggers so stop blaming guns and focus on the real problem, the loss of morals and absolutes in our lives. Leave our guns alone and allow the deterrent back.
Innocent Americans should stop accepting any guilt for school shootings. The liberals that run these facilities KNOW they are high risk targets yet have stiffly refused to fortify and defend themselves for 20 years! But instead, just wait for the next lunatic to show up and politely stand in line for their turn to be killed. Until they decide to do what needs to be done, let them keep going to hell in their own liberal kind of way. Note: The thing that made the Alamo the righteous and historic event that it became was because its occupants FOUGHT BACK!
The FBI questioned the Parkland shooter by phone and chose not to follow up with him. Nobody has asked the FBI what their questions were. Maybe the conversation went something like this:
FBI: “Is this the guy who has been talking about shooting up the Parkland school?”
Parkland shooter, “Yes, it is.”
FBI: “Okay. Do you have enough ammo? Need a ride?”
Parkland shooter, “No, I’m good.”
FBI: “Okay, have a nice day. Good luck.”
Lee, you are nipping around the fringes of the problem but fail to see the crux, the center of gravity of the problem. Here it is. The Leviathan we call public education is the problem. Bureaucracy and bureaucratic propensity to preserve bureaucracy over mission is the problem. The economist James Buchanan wrote Nobel Prize winning books on exactly this problem. Public schools are a government funded, government enforced bureaucracy now devoid of any sense of original mission. And small ‘l’ libertarian would have seen this freight train coming 100 years ago. Because the Leviathan called public education monopoly is so… Read more »
The truth is that the armed or unarmed criminals FEAR the armed victims. I don’t know just how many school mass murders could have been prevented/stopped/changed had the teachers been armed and willing to use it BUT even if it’s only once then it’s worth it. This is just common sense. There are those who say that the only way of stopping “gun violence” is getting rid of the guns. To that I say that there is no such thing as “gun violence”. Guns are simply machinery. Back in my GRADE SCHOOL days it was common for us kids to… Read more »
One word will suffice to address the issue (but I’ll add a couple to clarify) – Ma’alot.
The bottom line(s) always seem to boil down to 1) cost, 2) inconvenience, and 3) we don’t want to look like an armed camp. I could probably add more but not really necessary.
I would rather see you use a term better than crazy for these psychotic sociopaths. As a mental health professional, this goes beyond the term chosen and perhaps discourages those who need help to seek it out. Otherwise, this is spot on! Thanks!