Another mentally deranged gunman entered a school and killed seventeen innocent Americans. This time the tragedy took place in Parkland, Florida.
There were multiple failures of “the system” to prevent this horror from happening. The mentally disturbed shooter was a walking warning sign, and could have, should have been stopped, before he ever entered that school.
The police had been called to his home dozens of times due to Nikolas Cruz’s violent and disturbing behavior. It was known that he had multiple knives and guns. It was known that he enjoyed torturing animals. A neighbor had warned the sheriff’s office that Cruz said he “planned to shoot up the school.”
A school resource officer at the very school where the shooting ultimately took place was warned that Cruz was “cutting himself”, “drinking gasoline in an attempt to commit suicide”, and “wanted to purchase a gun.” The FBI was informed of a disturbing comment posted by the shooter himself on YouTube: “I am going to be a professional school shooter.” Yet they did virtually nothing to track this individual down.
And on the day of the shooting itself, there was an armed school resource officer who failed to enter the school building and try to save defenseless students. He was soon joined by three deputies who had their guns drawn, but stayed outside the school behind their vehicles. It wasn’t until another police department arrived that any officers entered the building. We’ll never know how many lives could have been saved had these four police personnel acted more decisively.
What can be done? First of all, the American people deserve far better than the inept handling of matters they saw at various levels of government in this case. If the warning signs that this guy was so obviously dangerous were missed or ignored here, there are probably many more time bombs out there. This has to be addressed immediately
In addition, too many of our schools are insanely vulnerable. Many of them have a sign posted outside saying something along the lines of “gun free school zone.” In my opinion, posting such signs may have just the opposite of the intended purpose. It notifies the shooter with ill-intent that he will be the only person there with a gun, and he doesn’t have to worry about anyone shooting back. It’s an invitation to slaughter.
President Trump has suggested arming teachers. His proposal was conveyed to the public by some in the mainstream press as forcing all teachers to be armed. I wouldn’t support that, but that’s not what he was proposing. Allowing teachers who have undergone appropriate training, and who wish to have a weapon available to them to protect their students in the event of an armed intruder, well to me that seems worthy of discussion.
Also, I received a suggestion from Dan Hils, who is the President of our local FOP. He proposed that we consider hiring retired police officers to protect our schools. They often retire in their early 50s, are well trained, and have another 15 to 20 years service to provide. They’re already receiving their pension after 25 years, so they may be a bargain to the taxpayers. I am drafting legislation to see if there is support among my colleagues in Congress to allow communities who may wish to implement this, to be eligible for funding through an existing federal law enforcement grant program. I’ll keep you informed as we proceed on this.
The bottom line is, our children deserve to be safe wherever they are, especially in their schools. We need to harden these schools for students who are there to learn – not to become victims of the evil which too frequently walks among us.