Let's start with the necessary statement that we all think that the murder of all those children in Parkland Florida's high school was terrible and that we should strive to prevent anything similar from happening again. That being said, there still need to be certain questions answered:
1. The shooter got his guns legally. Does that mean he passed a background check? Was there anything in his background that would have prevented him from passing such a background check? My understanding is that he had no criminal record and there was no reason to deny him the purchase of a weapon. The guns were not bought at the last minute, so even a waiting period after the background check would not have stopped the massacre. So, is there any reason to believe that more stringent background checks would have prevented this tragedy? The answer seems to be not.
2. The shooter used an AR-15 to commit his murder spree. If that weapons were outlawed, would that have prevented this atrocity? Here too, the answer seems "no". The same kid with three hand guns could have killed just as many as he did with his semi-automatic rifle. In fact, it would have been much easier to hid the hand guns than it was to conceal the rifle.
3. The shooter is said to have been diagnosed as having mild autism. We don't even know if this is true. He was also expelled from school for behavior problems. Is that a reason to have taken other steps to bar him from gun ownership? Maybe. But is there a realistic way to seek such a bar without trampling on the rights of a great many others? I can't see it. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but it surely isn't easily apparent.
4. The FBI was warned that Nikolas Cruz posted on youtube that he was going to be a school shooter. The FBI says that they just couldn't find Nikolas Cruz despite the unusual spelling of the name. I don't believe that. They had the screen name for the guy. They could have asked Youtube for a physical location for that individual. If Youtube refused to cooperate, the FBI could have obtained a subpoena to get the info. You can be sure that if the FBI knew that the guy they were seeking was Nikolas Cruz in southeast Florida, they could have found the shooter. They really didn't try very hard. No gun law or lack of gun law caused this.
So we go back to the basic question: how could this have been avoided? The answer seems to be it would have been avoided if the FBI had found the shooter. No law would have stopped this, however. Each time this stuff happens we hear for days about gun control legislation. It makes the people on the left feel good to show how virtuous they are to oppose gun ownership. It wouldn't achieve the goal, however.
1. The shooter got his guns legally. Does that mean he passed a background check? Was there anything in his background that would have prevented him from passing such a background check? My understanding is that he had no criminal record and there was no reason to deny him the purchase of a weapon. The guns were not bought at the last minute, so even a waiting period after the background check would not have stopped the massacre. So, is there any reason to believe that more stringent background checks would have prevented this tragedy? The answer seems to be not.
2. The shooter used an AR-15 to commit his murder spree. If that weapons were outlawed, would that have prevented this atrocity? Here too, the answer seems "no". The same kid with three hand guns could have killed just as many as he did with his semi-automatic rifle. In fact, it would have been much easier to hid the hand guns than it was to conceal the rifle.
3. The shooter is said to have been diagnosed as having mild autism. We don't even know if this is true. He was also expelled from school for behavior problems. Is that a reason to have taken other steps to bar him from gun ownership? Maybe. But is there a realistic way to seek such a bar without trampling on the rights of a great many others? I can't see it. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but it surely isn't easily apparent.
4. The FBI was warned that Nikolas Cruz posted on youtube that he was going to be a school shooter. The FBI says that they just couldn't find Nikolas Cruz despite the unusual spelling of the name. I don't believe that. They had the screen name for the guy. They could have asked Youtube for a physical location for that individual. If Youtube refused to cooperate, the FBI could have obtained a subpoena to get the info. You can be sure that if the FBI knew that the guy they were seeking was Nikolas Cruz in southeast Florida, they could have found the shooter. They really didn't try very hard. No gun law or lack of gun law caused this.
So we go back to the basic question: how could this have been avoided? The answer seems to be it would have been avoided if the FBI had found the shooter. No law would have stopped this, however. Each time this stuff happens we hear for days about gun control legislation. It makes the people on the left feel good to show how virtuous they are to oppose gun ownership. It wouldn't achieve the goal, however.
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