By Florida Bill Big talkers in the media, and government bureaucrats from both political parties, are focusing on the wrong solution to the tragic killings of 17 persons in a Florida school. Guns are an issue--yes. But the problem demanding immediate attention before all others is absolute safety in the schools of America.
President Trump has identified the problem, but his talk about arming teachers borders on the ridiculous. The NRA sides with the President in support of what is an unworkable and inappropriate fantasy.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel whose deputies patrol and guard the community of Parkland under contract, is distracting us from the solution by fingering the school security officer, Deputy Scot Peterson, for his cowardice. Somehow, Israel continues to describe himself as an "amazing leader" of his law enforcement office. Contrary to his self-aggrandizement, Israel is seen by many as an inept lawman who should resign or be fired by Gov. Scott, assuming that the governor has the authority to dismiss an elected official in his state.
The Broward county sheriff's office is one of the largest in the country with 5,800 employees and some 2,800 deputies. It has an annual budget of $700 million. Israel was elected in 2012. Now in his second term, Israel needs to explain what is so amazing about his leadership when his office had been bombarded with red flags about the troubled Nikolas Cruz. His office reportedly responded 39 times to various calls concerning the antics and alleged misconduct of Nick Cruz as he grew up in an affluent Parkland neighborhood, yet no one ever saw a pattern which necessitated a fix. In at least one case, deputies were told that Cruz owned guns and was a school shooter in the making.
The tragedy unfolded on a sunny Valentines day as the gun-loving Cruz ubered over to the Stoneman Douglas High school with his assault rifle in his back pack. Cruz had formerly attended the school.
The slaughter began when the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire rang out from Cruz' AR 15 assault rifle, the type soldiers might carry when storming a Taliban refuge in Afghanistan. Deputy Peterson, it has been reported, drew his weapon upon hearing the gunfire and then waited outside the building. His decision not to enter was not made out of cowardice, according to his attorney, but because of his best assessment of the situation. Peterson has said he believed the shooter was on the grounds and not in the building, in which case his role was to take cover, assess the situation, and report to other law enforcement. Peterson has been a policeman for 33 years and had been commended in the past for his exemplary role as a school officer.
President Trump as well as Israel has pointed to his "cowardice." Should he have charged into the building with his pistol in hand, prepared to "kill the killer" as Sheriff Israel has said. Many believe that if he had entered, at least some lives might have been saved. Yet it is hard to know the motives of this veteran policeman unless you, as is said, walked in his shoes during those crucial four minutes that he stood outside the building. And let's not lay all the blame on the sheriff's office, as many balls were dropped and red flags ignored in this tragedy. Don't forget the clumsy mishandling of the Cruz threat in the hands of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the world's most elite law enforcement organization. The FBI blew it completely. The name of "Nikclas Cruz" had been given to agents last July as a gun-crazy kid who posted on YouTube that he was yearning to shoot up a school. The FBI said it was unable to track down the person who posted it, despite the inclusion of his oddly spelled name. And in early January of this year, the FBI was notified by a tipster who knew Cruz. He informed the G-men that Cruz was a potential school killer and had assault weapons and was a mentally troubled youth. That tip apparently went into the FBI's file 13, which apparently is a big basket judging from other recent FBI faux pas'.
Who would ever believe that something like this could occur in bucolic Parkland, a community of about 30,000 residents where horses are seen regularly and where some residents have dogs, chickens sheep and goats? Many homes there are valued at many millions of dollars and Parkland had a reputation as one of the safest communities in the USA and home to some of Florida's best schools.
So now we have the media bellyaching and screaming for gun control which it contends is the panacea to all gun misuse. There has developed a firestorm of calls for banning assault weapons, led by the highly articulate young Stoneman Douglas survivors.
I agree that some guns should be banned and maybe the age for owning firearms should be increased; and maybe the requirements for obtaining certain guns should be made so difficult that it would make it near impossible to obtain them.
Gun control is a vitally important issue that has been tackled successfully by countries like Australia, but it is an issue that is not going to be resolved quickly in this land where the second amendment is revered. And yet we need immediate action to prevent this carnage from ever happening again. The key and most urgent question right now is safety in the schools. Find a way so that America's children are always safe and protected when in school. If it takes metal detectors, as exist in airports, then put in metal detectors and make sure they work and are monitored. If it takes armed police in the hallways, do it. If we need "hurricane impact" interior and exterior doors and windows, that would repel shots, then crank up those budgets and start installing them. Get it done, now, so as to proscribe this from ever happening again.
There must never be concern for the safety of students attending schools in the United States.
xxx
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