ANOTHER SCHOOL/PUBLIC SHOOTING

[Duchess]

Sometimes it's just too much to listen to any longer. I heard a mother telling trump and lawmakers what they could do to help. She had just spent the past couple hours choosing wreaths for her 14 year old daughter's funeral. I couldn't take another minute of it. As I type that I see how selfish that sounds but that certainly isn't my intent.

[Jimbone]

The school district my kids attend have at least one police officer per campus during school hours and events. These officers are permanently assigned, and are part of the school community. Each campus also has at least one patrol car parked near the front entrances during school hours.

The officers are a division of the local police department, and are tied into all emergency dispatch and radio centers.

Larger campuses like the high schools and junior high school buildings have several officers, but most elementary have just one.

No metal detectors at the entrances currently, but access to all the schools is pretty tightly controlled by magnetic locks, cctv, and centralized office control points.

[sally]

Wasn't there police presence at the school when he managed to kill 17 people? I thought that's what I read.

[Love Child]

My highschool had a security guard and a police officer. My senior year it was rumored that the vice principal wore a bullet proof vest because he feared for his life. We joked about it then. I didn't fear for my life, most didn't unless they had done something to piss someone off.
There were times of fear due to drive by shootings. I recall hearing a shot from a car outside my house once and ducking below the window.

I can't stop thinking about this shooting for some reason. My body feels physically ill and I want to cry all the time. Teachers should not have to have the pressure of carrying guns, but armed security guards and more security around schools is not a bad idea. It is a great idea.
That is the best 1^st step to this problem, and then more needs to be done for prevention. We should not be preparing for "Well lets be prepared for when this happens again" It should be prevention. You prepare for hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados, those are things we cannot prevent.

Someone said today that when people feel they belong or are part of a community they wont go shooting up a school. I think that is correct.

[Jimbone]

If I read this correctly, the FBI was tipped off to him last month but failed to pass on and follow up on the tip.

The FBI was warned last month that Nikolas Cruz was an armed psycho who might shoot up a school — but it didn’t bother investigating, the agency admitted Friday.

“A person close to” Cruz called the agency’s tipline on Jan. 5 and reported the 19-year-old had a “desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts” and there was “potential of him conducting a school shooting,” the FBI said in a statement.

But the agency said it failed to pass on any of that information to its Miami field office, even thought its own protocols say he “should have been assessed as a potential threat to life.”

https://nypost.com/2018/02/16/fbi-failed...ast-month/

[sally]

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Sometimes it's just too much to listen to any longer. I heard a mother telling trump and lawmakers what they could do to help. She had just spent the past couple hours choosing wreaths for her 14 year old daughter's funeral. I couldn't take another minute of it.

I'm sick of hearing about all their prayers every time too. FBI ignored concerns about him and no red flags showing that he was treated for mental problems. Two easy things to do. Shove your stupid prayers up your ass.

[HairOfTheDog]

Many situations have been diffused by guards and armed citizens I imagine it would be tough to say what may have or could have happened if they were not stopped. Here is a link to a gun zealot web site.

Nobody doubts that better security can and has prevented or minimized shooting deaths. Nobody that I've seen anyway.

But, that's just one of many things that can and should be done, in my opinion.

And, while armed security and armed citizens might be a deterrent to some criminals, my point was that there's no indication it would deter mass shooters focused on a specific target.

Past mass shooters tell us that they'll make attempts regardless of whether the target location is a gun-free zone or not, and sometimes they'll succeed. As MS has pointed out a couple of times, the element of surprise is a huge benefit for the shooter, even with solid security in place.

[HairOfTheDog]

There still needs to be vast improvement in the following areas in order to limit the number of massing shooting attempts in the first place:

1. Raise the age for buying guns (all guns of all types) to 21 nationwide. It's stupid that an 18-year-old can legally purchase an AR-15 rifle, but can't buy a pistol until he/she is 21-years-old.

2. Establish an oversight commission and put stiff penalties in place for any government agencies that fail to follow-up on leads or provide the Fed/NICS with mandated gun-disqualifying information (dishonorable discharges, domestic violence reports, violent mental health issues...).

3. Put a 30-day waiting period into effect for new gun purchases. Or, at the very least, change the current regulation allowing sellers to hand over guns if the FBI doesn't complete the background check in 3 business days -- no background clearance, no transfer of the firearm.

4. Ban bump stocks and limit magazine capacity to 10 bullets.

There's more that can be done aside from enhanced security and the ideas noted above. But, not a damn thing is going to be done if voters don't push for it and hold their elected congresspersons' feet to the fire.

If conservative politicians were willing to give up the NRA's support/voter-base of their own volition for the good of public safety, they would have done it a long time ago.

[Midwest Spy]

^ Your last point is spot on.

That’s the crux of the issue. Politicians are scared to death of the NRA and even reasonable, rational gun owners/supporters are muted if they try to say anything.

Which brings us to another point.

In this latest massacre, the FBI was tipped TWICE about this kid, and didn’t follow up either time.

I mean, the entire school knew he was capable of this, and NOTHING was done?!

Can you imagine being a parent of a dead child knowing this?

If citizens are doing what they can, ie, reporting suspicious people, and the cops do nothing, then we truly are in trouble, and in the future, if someone wants to take care of the potential problem in advance, who can blame them?

[sally]

Can you imagine being a parent of a dead child knowing this?

Yeah I imagine it's a real slap in the face. Mass shootings have been happening on a regular basis now for years and getting worse and absolutely nothing has been done. And I'm not even talking about taking guns away, just small things like the FBI taking threats serious and a better system for background checks.

[ZEROSPHERES]

[F.U.]

Banning different parts of a firearm, like bump stocks, will do nothing. Companies are constantly looking for new "toys" to increase the rate of fire. Hell bump stocks arnt even outlawed yet and they have come out with the newest "upgrade". Search binary trigger. Ban mag capacity and they will find a way to make a AR belt fed.

[HairOfTheDog]

Banning different parts of a firearm, like bump stocks, will do nothing. Companies are constantly looking for new "toys" to increase the rate of fire. Hell bump stocks arnt even outlawed yet and they have come out with the newest "upgrade". Search binary trigger. Ban mag capacity and they will find a way to make a AR belt fed.

That's okay -- it would still allow LE to bust people who were using banned items and it would force the gun manufacturers to invest their profits into research and development, if that happens.

Better yet.............make the bans based upon the function itself, rather than the existing device that makes that function possible. For example, 'any device that increases the rate of current fire is prohibited and illegal'. 'Any belt or other device designed to allow feeding in excess of current legal magazine regulations is prohibited and illegal'. Then, enforce those bans/laws strictly.

And, yeah, I know criminals who want to build those kinds of devices and have the know-how will do it. It would still take a lot of that shit off the market and make a statement about changing priorities for the better in this country.

[Love Child]

Something that is annoying to me is how many adults keep saying that it is so surprising how well spoken some of these kids are. I want to listen to these kids more, want their voices to be heard, they know what this is like, we don't, or I don't.

The other annoying thing is bots-and bots who say this school shooting or any school shooting is fake and these are all actors. WTF that is messed up.

[Duchess]

The other annoying thing is bots-and bots who say this school shooting or any school shooting is fake and these are all actors. WTF that is messed up.

There is an entire group of people who call these types of things false flags, many of them follow Alex Jones (InfoWars). They think the Sandy Hook killings never happened and they believe our government was behind 9/11. Those are just a couple examples. They're all a bunch of fuckin' weirdos.

[F.U.]

Banning different parts of a firearm, like bump stocks, will do nothing. Companies are constantly looking for new "toys" to increase the rate of fire. Hell bump stocks arnt even outlawed yet and they have come out with the newest "upgrade". Search binary trigger. Ban mag capacity and they will find a way to make a AR belt fed.

Better yet.............make the bans based upon the function itself, rather than the existing device that makes that function possible. For example, 'any device that increases the rate of current fire is prohibited and illegal'. 'Any belt or other device designed to allow feeding in excess of current legal magazine regulations is prohibited and illegal'. Then, enforce those bans/laws strictly.

That's what it will take, but I don't see that happening. I say that because all you hear is talk about the banning of features or "assault rifles" themselves. Hi cap mags, bump fire stocks, Ar15's, etc. They call them out by name, not by concept/design/what ever the right word is. Look back at the first ban. While short lived they targeted name brands or add on features. They don't think about the fact that people will find a way to circumvent these bans.
As time goes on I am becoming less and less concerned that there will ever be another ban in my lifetime. Not saying there wont be one in the future, but I doubt I will ever see another one.

[Maggot]

The F.B.I screwed the pooch on this one. What good is telling them there is a problem if they don't do anything. They say they couldn't find this nut. That's a bit of a stretch I think and they certainly have enough manpower and technological tools they can use. The only thing this will do is maybe wake them up a bit. They have 35,000 people on their payroll.

[Midwest Spy]

^ words cannot adequately express how much of a failure this is. It should be considered criminal. If we can find the agent that took the tip and crumpled it up and threw it in the garbage, then prosecute their ass.

The FBI Director should step down as well.

Citizens notified the Feds twice about this POS and nobody follows up? In this day and age, where mass shootings are a weekly occurrence?

I get it. We won’t stop all of them, but this is one that could’ve been, and now 17 people are dead because somebody decided to not look into a potential lead.

I’m bewildered and if I were a parent I’d want someone to pay for this.

[Duchess]

Something feels different about this shooting, maybe it's the kids speaking out, they aren't children, yet they aren't adults either but they have got their shit together and many of them have been able to articulate what this is like for them, not to say the grieving loved ones don't make an impact, of course they do, but these young people speaking now are on a whole other level.

[Duchess]

Does anyone disagree with this?