Nikolas Cruz Parkland Shooting
A video monitor shows school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz, center, making an appearance before Judge Kim Theresa Mollica in Broward County Court, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Susan Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was a tragic event. Particularly so in that could have been prevented. Not prevented by enacting more gun control laws. It could have been prevented by the proper administration and application of law enforcement and school administration.

But since the shooting four years ago, those who so clearly failed to do their jobs that day and in the years before have laid the blame for the massacre on law-abiding gun owners and the inanimate object the killer used.

Nikolas Cruz was a known threat. He was known by the administrators of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Broward County Public Schools, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.

Here are some interesting facts about the shooter in the years leading up to his rampage.

Feb. 5, 2016: A Broward County Sheriff’s deputy is told by an anonymous caller that Nikolas Cruz, then 17, had threatened on Instagram to shoot up his school and posted a photo of himself with guns. The information is forwarded to BSO Deputy Scott Peterson (the same officer who failed to act during the shooting), a school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Sept. 23, 2016: A “peer counselor” reports to Peterson that Cruz had possibly ingested gasoline in a suicide attempt, was cutting himself, and wanted to buy a gun. A mental health counselor advised against involuntary committing Cruz. The high school said it would conduct a threat assessment.

Sept. 28, 2016: An investigator for the Florida Department of Children and Families rules Cruz is stable, despite “fresh cuts” on his arms. His mother, Lynda Cruz, says in the past he wrote a racial slur against African Americans on his book bag and had recently talked of buying firearms.

Sept. 24, 2017: A YouTube user named “nikolas cruz” posted a comment stating he wants to become a “professional school shooter.” The comment is reported to the FBI in Mississippi, which fails to make the connection to Cruz in South Florida.

Nov. 1, 2017: Katherine Blaine, Lynda Cruz’s cousin, calls BSO to report that Nikolas Cruz had weapons and asks that police recover them. A “close family friend” agrees to take the firearms, according to BSO.

Nov. 29, 2017: The Palm Beach County family that took Cruz in after the death of his mother calls the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office to report a fight between Cruz and their son, 22. A member of the family says Cruz had threatened to “get his gun and come back” and that he has “put the gun to others’ heads in the past.” The family does not want him arrested once he calms down.

Nov. 30, 2017: A caller from Massachusetts calls BSO to report that Cruz is collecting guns and knives and could be a “school shooter in the making.” A BSO deputy advises the caller to contact the Palm Beach sheriff.

Jan. 5, 2018: A caller to the FBI’s tip line reports that Cruz has “a desire to kill people” and could potentially conduct a school shooting. The information is never passed on to the FBI’s office in Miami.

Note: this timeline does not include the 39 times Broward County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to complaints about Cruz’s behavior.

Also, back in 2013, the Broward County School Board adopted a program in which they don’t relay information to police about troubled students. NPR reported in Fla. School District Trying To Curb School-To-Prison Pipeline . . .

It’s a move away from so-called “zero tolerance” policies that require schools to refer even minor misdemeanors to the police. Critics call it a “school to prison pipeline.”

Under a new program adopted by the Broward County School District, non-violent misdemeanors — even those that involve alcohol, marijuana or drug paraphernalia — will now be handled by the schools instead of the police.

Cruz was banned from carrying a backpack at school after bullets were found in his backpack. Cruz was expelled from MSD in 2017 after a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend.

Again, Cruz gets a pass under the Broward County School Board’s official policy of requiring that schools don’t inform the police about non-violent incidents with troubled youth.

“There were problems with him last year threatening students, and I guess he was asked to leave campus,” Maths teacher Jim Gard told The Miami Herald.

784.011 Assault. —
(1) An “assault” is an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to do violence to the person of another, coupled with an apparent ability to do so, and doing some act which creates a well-founded fear in such other person that such violence is imminent.

(2) Whoever commits an assault shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

A liberal, feel-good program stepped in the way of enforcing laws we have on the books. Cruz’s actions including fighting and making threats against students and teachers clearly constituted assault.

It is possible that Nikolas Cruz could have been Baker Acted and received the needed medical attention he required. But that wasn’t the case and sadly, 17 people lost their lives as a result.

But let’s go a step further and look directly at the issue of gun control.

After Parkland, there were calls for mandatory background checks. Florida law already required a mandatory background check that goes through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Firearm Purchase Program for every gun purchased from a gun store in the state.

From FDLE . . .

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Firearm Purchase Program began operations in 1991, as authorized by F.S. 790.065, which was enacted in 1989 and amended in 1990 by the Florida Legislature. F.S. 790.065 furthered the purposes of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 (Title 18 U.S.C., Sections 921-929), with respect to regulating the sale and delivery of firearms by licensed firearm dealers to persons who are not licensed firearm dealers.

On November 30, 1993, The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Title 18 U.S.C. Section 922(t), was passed by Congress. The interim version of this law became effective February 28, 1994, with the permanent version taking effect on November 30, 1998. The Brady Act requires all federal firearm licensees to conduct criminal background checks before selling or transferring a firearm to a non-licensed individual. In Florida, the FDLE Firearm Purchase Program implements the Brady Act at the state level.

It runs every purchase through the Florida Crime Information Center (FCIC) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). This is actually more rigorous than the FBI’s National instant Criminal background Check System (NICS).

On top of that, Florida law and the state constitution at the time required a mandatory three-day waiting period that each county could augment by five days.

Article I Section 8. Right to bear arms —

(b) There shall be a mandatory period of three days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, between the purchase and delivery at retail of any handgun. For the purposes of this section, “purchase” means the transfer of money or other valuable consideration to the retailer, and “handgun” means a firearm capable of being carried and used by one hand, such as a pistol or revolver. Holders of a concealed weapon permit as prescribed in Florida law shall not be subject to the provisions of this paragraph.

Article VIII Section 5. Local option —

(b) Each county shall have the authority to require a criminal history records check and a 3 to 5-day waiting period, excluding weekends and legal holidays, in connection with the sale of any firearm occurring within such county. For purposes of this subsection, the term “sale” means the transfer of money or other valuable consideration for any firearm when any part of the transaction is conducted on property to which the public has the right of access. Holders of a concealed weapons permit as prescribed by general law shall not be subject to the provisions of this subsection when purchasing a firearm.

Broward County had a five-day waiting period for all gun purchases per county ordinance § 18-96. Waiting period; prohibition and Cruz was under 21. That meant he couldn’t qualify for a concealed carry permit to skip the waiting period. So he actually had to wait the five days to acquire his rifle.

Additionally, 790.06 License to carry concealed weapon or firearm covers the full gamut of what requirements are needed to get a concealed carry permit and I need to summarize it because the list is too long for this article. Suffice to say, being 21 or older, going to a certified training course, not being a felon, and not having mental health issues are a few of the things that one would need to get a permit.

So that means that the gun store that sold the rifle Nikolas Cruz followed every law on the books.

Yet, since both the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the Broward County School Board refused to document the multiple instances when and where Nikolas Cruz would have been disqualified for purchasing a firearm, he was never put into the very system that those in power preach about.

These were systemic failures that those in power — failures that government tried mightily to sweep under the rug and instead have laid blame at the feet of lawful gun owners.

The failures on the part of law enforcement, government officials and gun control laws led directly to what happened on that horrible day.

Feb. 14, 2018: Nikolas Cruz attacks Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school. Deputy Scot Peterson, the school’s resource officer, draws his gun outside the building where Cruz is shooting students and staff, but doesn’t enter the school and never attempts to confront Cruz. This is the same Deputy Peterson who Sgt. Greg Molamphy nominated as the Parkland Deputy of the Year in 2017. In a memo Molamphy sent to Lt. Michael DeVita, he wrote Peterson handled “issues that arise with tact and solid judgment.”

Peterson was awol when seconds counted. People were made defenseless because of asinine laws like gun-free zones and instead of fighting back against Nikolas Cruz, teachers had to shield students with their bodies and die.

Gun free zones didn’t work. Waiting periods didn’t work. Law enforcement didn’t work, and neither did the school administration itself. The blood of innocents stains the hands of those in charge, not law-abiding Florida gun owners.

In 2018, I stood before the Florida Senate and laid this out . . .

Luis Valdes, standing before the Florida Senate and declaring that as a sworn law enforcement officer, gun control does not work.

They didn’t care. Instead the Republican supermajority caved to political pressure and passed even more gun control laws. Remember this every year at this time when the gun control industry points to Parkland as justification for further limiting Americans’ gun rights.

 

Luis Valdes is the Florida Director for Gun Owners of America.

67 COMMENTS

  1. Confirmation that when you put your faith in government and bureaucrats you will always be disappointed and unprotected.

    • confirmation that when you don’t exercise your duty as a citizen of a nation and fail to oversee your government and bureaucrats, they’ll always be taking over by others.

      • The same Liberals that want to defund the police, set bail so low that felons are free to commit more crimes, establish dangerous gun-free zones, and constantly push for more gun control laws to prevent the law-abiding from protecting themselves are the same people who are protected by armed bodyguards. These Liberals aren’t just misguided. They are morally corrupt.

  2. “The Parkland Shooting Was Proof Positive That Gun Control Doesn’t Work”

    gun control isn’t intended to stop school shootings. it’s intended to stop you from resisting boolsheviks. so you can argue the facts all day long, and they’ll just smile at how clueless you are and how safe they are, and continue to do what they do. until you stop them.

    • “ The Parkland Shooting Was Proof Positive That Gun Control Doesn’t Work”

      The KISS approach would simply be that the Parkland incident is “proof positive” that no law will prevent criminals and those intent on engaging in illegal or counterculture acts from breaking them; only the vigilance of a civilized public with can accomplish that.

  3. And Floriduh’s former governor banned gunz from 18year olds. A republitard did that(now a senator). That’ll fix it!😦☹️🙄

      • He needs to gt his ability to SEE checked by a neutral professional,then. Once more the old saying “there is none so blind as he who WILL NOT see”. Pat of being a good citizen is learning how the putative overlords SEE. This guy obviously did not see well. Yet he was elected.

  4. I have become impatient with folk about the details of gun control. Now, my side of the conversation always begins: “Have you heard of any criminals who are law-abiding citizens? No? So, that must be why you want to turn law- abiding citizens into criminals. You cannot stop crime by restricting those who do not commit crime.”
    That usually causes some stuttering.

    • “that must be why you want to turn law- abiding citizens into criminals”

      no. they already see you as a criminal. they just want to formalize it.

  5. lots of people on this board say that gun rights are absolute, “shall not be infringed”, and other such. I’ve pointed out that there’s lots of reasons why this is not viable, and have been called “faascist” and “naazi” with no rational response. cruz here is a good example of what happens when such “pro gun” arguments are carried to their logical conclusion. so, at what point would you deny cruz his right to arms, if at all?

      • He’s still blowing a smoke screen. He refuses to name, because he knows the reaction it will get, the ‘hidden’ ones he’s always on about controlling things behind the scenes. He did say that the gestapo were patriots. Big clue there. And 2a rights are only for a militia. Why do I believe his version of the militia would be all white and dressed in Hugo Boss.

        And he’s still convinced that if the commies murder millions and the fascists murder millions somehow the fascists are better. I’m betting he denies the holocaust.

    • ranting007…What part of shall not be infringed don’t you understand? By all accounts cruz at the point where by his own two hands criminally misused a firearm forfeited his rights all by his lonesome. If you can find anyone on this forum who objects to cruz being incarcerated for his murders and mayhem feel free to do so…In the meantime if you stare into an abyss long enough eventually it will stare back at you.

      1) The Second Amendment is one thing.

      2) The criminal misuse of firearms, bricks, bats, knives, vehicles, etc. is another thing.

      3) History Confirms Gun Control in any shape, matter or form is a racist and nazi based Thing.

    • If gun rights were absolute then the teachers could have been armed and fought back in that “gun free zone” instead of having to shield their students with their bodies. I imagine the fucking coward would never have gone to that school to do what he did if he knew the teachers could protect their students and themselves. Bullies can only take on the weakest not the prepared.

    • Yu use the term “gun” alongside “rights”. The original text, still valid and unchaanged, reads “ARMS. These are weapons of any sort of military usefulness that can be deployed and used by the common man, Definition of the time that was written.

      Hen Cruz got his rifle, he WAS lawfully exercising his right to do so. HOWEVER, he had committed a number of known felonies, for which he was never charged. The penalty for the commission of those felonies included the requirement to forfeit his right to arms, having been proven unfit to exercise that right by virtue of his outard conduct. He had committed at least one of those felonies prior to the purchase of his rifle, but because of the school district’s desire to
      look good’ by reducing their ARREST rate, (never mind their CRME rate…..slight difference), no one cted to findict Cruz for his crimes, nor to report to NICS of his conduct and (non)pending felony charges.One more failure in the “law enforcement” system.

      Yes, my RIGHT to arms is inviolate. Remember the 14 year old kid who grabbed the revolver on the counter as a thug was beating up his Mum a few feet away and demanding the cash from the piza store? That kid pikcked up the revolver, it being in a pulbically accessible place as well, aimed and fired, hitting the perp in the face ahd assisting him to make an informed decision to leave off his atteck. The coppers came round and mopped up, took the wtenty seven eight by ten colour gloosy photogrpahs, put circles and arrews on the back of each one explaining what each one was, and went home, no charges on the kid who “illegally” possesed a handgun in pubilc at age 14. See, that kid KNEW his right to arms, and made excellent use of it. Mum has recovered, and is REALLY glad she has such a fine son who can take action decisively when indicated. Cruz’ mum, not so much.

      • Had Cruz’s mental problems, assaults, etc. been noted on his background check, he wouldn’t have gotten the weapon in the first place. He did not actually have the right to get the weapon because of his problems.

    • Cruz had an absolute right to arms. So did the first guy he aimed at who should have shot him dead on the spot. That would have solved the problem without loss of innocent life, and if we had stuck to that plan as it stood up until around 1900, there would have probably been a community reward chest to award the hero with a box of ammo and a “hero” medal.

  6. They don’t care about public safety! This is about disarming the law-abiding, productive citizens of this nation. All of the rest is nothing but theater. They would just LOVE to do what Castreau is doing right now in Canada. They want to declare a state of emergency in the entire country, and it would be a perpetual state of emergency. Hopefully, people in the US are watching what is happening up there and will wake the f* up.

  7. All these failures at the .gov level. The same .gov folk that dacian the nazi and miner want to be in control of our guns. Fools.

  8. To be fair Gun Control works to help murderers, rapists, perverts, kidnappers, child molesters, thieves, slave traders and tyrants.

  9. Demoonbats aren’t interested in their purported solutions, just in the issue. The implementation of their entire wishlist would by design result in failure to control the “problem,” leaving mandatory Third Reich-style confiscation of civilian firearms as the inevitable last-resort.

    • Firears in OUR hands IS ur last resort. If we LET them take them all we are done. It was less than two years bac that Trudeau oversaw the confiscation of nearly al firearms from Canadian citizens. It bothers me more than a little to know that all those truckers and otehrs standing up for their rights and agsint tyranny are not armed. At least, that would be the official position. My guess, having lived aongst them up there, and known quite a few normal folk, is that somewhere around one percent of the truck operators are armed, likley not constantly whils tthye are out and about, but somewhere in their rigs there will be a few handguns perhaps hunting shotguns or long guns, sequestered away and yet availble for a last resort standoff. My further guess is that at least half of their owners know very well what they are about in the use of them. Likley far more skilled and sensible than even the RCMP

    • Freedom is dangerous, but not as dangerous as tyranny. Gun control is all about freedom to tyrannize the people. Government fears an armed populace and an unarmed populace fears government. Which government do you want?

  10. The killer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas had every right to own guns. And the killer at the Texas Church in Sunderland Springs also had a right to own guns. The Killer in South Carolina at the black church, Dylan Roof, he had a right to own guns as well. That is our constitutional law.

    But it was unionized government workers, office clerks, and their supervisors, who failed to process the paperwork in all of these cases. Properly processed paperwork that would have denied these dangerous people, the ability to legally purchase guns.

    And those unionized government workers are still working in the government to this day. Still holding their $100,000 a year salaries.

    btw
    It was a unionized government Clerk who failed to give Randy Weaver the correct date, for his court appearance. And that unionized government worker is still working for the government.

    • To Ignorant Chris in the hills of “Kentuk” (as the local hill people call their state).

      The latest stats show:

      Over one-third of government employees (37%) belong to a union, versus 6% of all private sector employees.

      During the last 50 years workers wages have stagnated while corporate profits rose by 900%. C.E.O. salaries, which steal much of company profits, are up by 320% sharing almost zero of company profits with the workers. Many workers today have no paid holidays, no paid vacations, and no retirement and no hospitalization. This is a big contrast to when Unions were strong and everyone’s wages were based on what Union workers made.

      During the heyday of Union Membership an unskilled worker made enough money to completely support his wife and children with no need for the wife to work. Today both spouses working (usually at 2 or more part time minimum wage shit jobs) do not make enough money to often afford even basic bill paying of utilities and food costs.

      As to be expected with the decline in the standard of living crime rose substantially and now over 4 generations of inner city people have never had a decent paying job.

      • dacian the stupid,

        Yeah, it’s really a great thing that a bunch of incompetent, disfunctional “civil servants” are unionized at about 6 times the rate of workers who actually work. We know you LONG to be a government drone – can’t be fired, don’t have to do much work, get overpaid, and have ridiculous benefits that the actual taxpayers have to subsidize. Sounds like your wet dream. I can only surmise you must have flunked the civil service exam.

        And of course none of that could have ANYTHING to do with idiotic government policies, right?

        Or, perhpaps, the whole “Great Society” nonsense, that destroyed the Black nuclear family.

        You are too stupid to insult. Go micturate up a cable.

        • You are very correct. The “great society” has destroyed the black nuclear family.
          And “civil servants” get people killed. And they still get to keep their job.

      • dacian, the DUNDERHead So what if 37% of government employees are union? What is that supposed to prove” That these government employees are lemmings like you?

        Corporate executives don’t steal their salary and benefits. Those are determined by (usually) the Board of Directors when the exec is hired.
        If these employees you bemoan about don’t have benefits, then they have a choice to make. Quit and get another job where they can get the benefits you refer to or they can suck it up.

        For your edification, unions priced the American worker out of the market with their outrageous demands that management could not meet and still make a profit. For your further edification, an employee does NOT own the company. He is an EMPLOYEE. If he wants to be an owner, he has to take his savings and invest it in the company by buying the company stock. This is a capitalist economy, not one of your socialist communes.

  11. I ran a stop sign and drove 30 in a 25 mph zone.
    If I would have got caught I would have got a ticket.
    But I did it anyway.

  12. The one positive outcome was that Florida raised the age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21 years. Mental health studies have proven that young people under age 25 do not reach the full level of maturity that older adults have which makes them aware of both the short and long term consequences of their actions. Of course the Military has know this for years and how easy it is to turn young men into mindless robotic killing machines.

    Additional studies by the insurance industry also confirm the most accidents happen in this under 25 age group in automobile accidents.

    All of the above is more irrefutable proof that deadly weapons should be kept out of the hands of teenagers who are not mature enough to be trusted to have them or in many cases even be trusted to handle a car safely.

    Semi-Auto Assault rifles need to be put on the NFA list as they have a proven track record of very in depth background checks as anyone who has went through one knows it takes months to get approved for an NFA weapon. Machine gun killings by gangsters were once common in big cities in the 1920’s until the NFA put an abrupt halt to this when machine guns were heavily vetted by the NFA act and would be just as effective today if semi-auto rifles were also added to the NFA List.

    Republicans have contributed to mass killings as they have consistently blocked Universal Health Care bills which would pay for mental health care for those that need it.

    And of course Republicans have consistently blocked any form of sane gun control like Safe Storage Laws and Universal Background checks and an extension of the time for these background checks to put them more in line with the long vetting process that is used for NFA weapons which has proven so effective in keeping deadly weapons out of the hands of lunatics and criminals.

    Yes in the Nicholas Cage tragedy, law enforcement and the Feds all failed to do their jobs which gives the Far Right Buffoons the excuse to throw up their hands and claim we should not do anything about the problem of guns getting into the wrong hands which is sheer lunacy. Mistakes were made but that does not mean that law enforcement and the government cannot learn from their mistakes. After all if we had not learned from our mistakes in the past today anyone could walk into a store and buy a silencer or machine gun over the counter and anyone could buy a new firearm with no background check. The mistakes of the past all led to these worthwhile laws which the nut cases on the Far Right still rant against.

    • I might add no law is perfect and yes it failed in the Nicholas Cage tragedy but lets not over look the fact that the Brady Bill has in just 20 years of its history stopped over 2 million gun sales to people who should not have them. Something the Far Right Lunatics try to sweep under the rug because it does not fit their far right nut case political agenda of zero gun control laws.

      • The Brady Bill has stopped not 1 criminal act, nor actually prevented a single person from buying the same weapon on the black market. Anyone with enough brainpower to point a gun downrange before pulling the trigger knows if they will pass the NICS check or not.
        Somehow you have been brainwashed into thinking words on paper with no follow up for refused sales somehow prevented anyone from doing whatever they had in mind.
        Of course, you also seem to ignore the fact that the unionized government employees you brag about neglected to do their jobs.

        • to Senile Old Man

          The Brady Bill needs to be restored to its original configuration before the NRA gutted it and that was it originally was to cover all gun sales i.e. Universal Background Checks. You mentioned the black market, well how in the hell do you think all those black market guns got there to begin with????? They were second hand gun sales with no paperwork.

          If the Brady Bill covered all gun sales the second hand gun market with no paperwork would dry up almost over night. Other countries have already proven it.

        • dacian the stupid,

          Question for you. How you plannin’ to enforce “universal background checks” on thieves who steal guns, or criminals who sell them on the street???

          The ONLY argument I’ve ever seen you advance is that they wouldn’t sell/use stolen or street guns because if they were caught, it would be another charge against them. Another charge. Against people who are committing crimes with illegally-owned weapons.

          You are simply too stupid to insult. Go pound salt in your @$$.

        • dacian, the DUNDERHAD, The Brady Bill was an unmitigated disaster before the NRA stepped in and hasn’t prevented a single act of violence. Your NICS checks don’t stop jack. If a criminal wants a gun, he is going to go to the “black market” and buy one on the street. Again passing a law did absolutely NO GOOD at all.

          The real answer is to ENFORFCE the laws already on the books. Put murderers, robbers, burglars and other thieves in prison where they belong. For your edification, you can not force a criminal to rehabilitate. It’s always been up to the INDIVIDUAL to rehab. With all the “programs” we have in the penal system, more than 2/3rds of the convict commit another crime and return to prison in less than 5 yrs. For all your Lefty programs, they do very little if any good at all. Don’t get me wrong. I am all for the programs. It keeps the convict busy limiting their “free time” to think of new ways to buck the system.

      • dacian;

        “Brady Bill has in just 20 years of its history stopped over 2 million gun sales to people who should not have them”

        False.

        You evidently do not understand. Over 90% of those are later able to buy a firearm because under the Brady bill they had no disqualifying convictions because their cases were either dismissed or nolle prosequi. The Brady bill did not stop “over 2 million gun sales to people who should not have them”.

        The Brady bill has never stopped a single in progress crime.

        The Brady bill has never stopped a single death or injury to a victim in an in progress crime.

        The Brady bill has never stopped a single crime from being planned.

        There is not 1 single crime that the Brady Bill has stopped.

        There is not one act of gun violence the Brady Bill has stopped.

        For some reason you seem to think that criminals will submit to a background check to determine if they can have a gun or not. They simply buy a gun off the street or use another type of weapon. The Brady bill doesn’t stop them.

        • to Booger Brain

          Your Far Right lies are a joke especially your wild 90% bull shit.

          The Brady Bill was gutted by the NRA as it originally would have covered all gun sales not just new gun sales which would have stopped way more than 2 million people from buying guns as most guns sold today are second hand guns with no paperwork and they are the primary source of guns going to lunatics and criminals. Even a 4th grader could understand that.

          Only a demented Dotard like yourself would denigrate the basic concept of the Brady Bill as all civilized nations have had such laws for decades only their laws cover all gun sales. Again Dotard what simple part of this do you not understand????? And I might add their homicides with firearms and robberies are far less than ours are proving that yes Universal Background Checks do indeed work and work well as History has proven it. Obviously you flunked History classes.

          Until Universal Background Checks are law the lunatics and criminals will continue to go around the Brady Bill and simply just buy second hand guns with no paperwork. Again you Dotard even a 4th grader could understand this.

        • dacian, the DUNDERHEAD Tell us just how many lives has the Brady Bill and NICS saved? I can tell you. ZERO. You cannot point to a single life saved by either. NICS is a hollow “feel good” solution in search of a problem that it can’t resolve in any way. It just makes you feel good so you can say, “We did something.” Useless and ineffective but your “did something. “

    • Yeah, dacian, that’s the ticket!! All the millions of new women and minorities buying guns over the last two years were “right wingers”. Jeebus, you are even stupider than I thought. You are too stupid to insult, and DESPERATELY need to go micturate up a cable.

      What an IDIOT you are!!

    • dacian the DUNDEARHEAD, The “study” you are referring to addresses drivers under the age of 25, not guns. Nice try. Heck you are over the age of 25 and still haven’t matured to the level of a 12 yr old.

      As to the military age, it is a well KNOWN fact that war fighting is a young man’s game. You have to have the stamina to be able to keep up to the flow of the battlefield. I am more than sure that the only thing you have ever served is McDonald’s or Burger King. Taco Bell is beyond your capability.

      There is absolutely NO reason to keep firearms out of the hands of teenagers. None, zero, not any. Youngsters enjoy going out, plinking and hunting. It is up to the parents to regulate how their children conduct themselves. NOT the government. in spite of your senseless “protestations”,

      Again, you bemoan “assault weapons”. There is NO SUCH THING as an “assault weapon”. What you call an “assault weapon” is nothing more than a semi-automatic rifle which looks like the military’s M-16. You do know what a “semi-automatic” weapon is? Well, you can’t tell by your radical rhetoric. Do I have to outline the difference between an AR-15 and a M-16? We have already been through this about 5 or 6 times, give or take. Semi-automatic rifles account for LESS than 1 percent of the deaths by firearms. You are again, trying to make a case based on another one of your lies.

      You radicals seem to think that all you have to do is “pass a law” and everyone will “obey” like an automaton. If that were the case, there would be no illegal gun market or illegal shootings nor would there be any crime. Try explaining the dichotomy?

      Have you lost what little mind you might have left? Universal Health Care has ZERO to do with gun control. Universal Health Care in Britain and Canada is an ongoing disaster. There are LONG, LONG waits for even routine procedures. Not to mention the quality of health care in spite of what you Lefties try to tell us is at best substandard. American healthcare is second to NONE. So you bet we are going to continue to block “universal heath care”.

      Excuse me, but what the hell are you talking about, “the Nicholas Cage tragedy”? Don’t you mean that imbecile, Alex Baldwin?

  13. I have to take issue with the headline.

    The Parkland Shooting was not proof positive that gun control doesn’t work.

    It was proof positive that government doesn’t work. At least, not in the way it’s supposed to.

  14. dacian wants the government to take away my Rem 7400.
    JFK was killed with a bolt action, ban those too.
    Lincoln was killed with a muzzle loading derringer, ban those too.
    Custer was killed with arrows, ban those too.
    Able was killed with a rock, ban those too.
    .
    Theres a bunch of people in the Ukraine right now wishing they had as many gunms as the people in the USA do.

    • Possum I hate to give you a history lesson but small arms are not going to stop the power of the Russian Military. Their artillery alone can wipe out every city in the Ukraine not to mention their superiority in planes and tanks.

      • dacian the stupid,

        Yeah, that’s what we said when we went into Viet Nam; what the Russians (and we) said when we went into Afghanistan. How’d that s*** work out, dacian???

        You are too stupid to insult. Go micturate up a cable.

        • to the Demented Lamp that went out in his head.

          Trying to categorize all wars as carbon copies of themselves proved you flunked history classes big time. And I might add trying to compare the U.S. with Russia is also a mistake as well. But what would a Dotard like you know about the history of warfare. Not much by your idiotic comment.

          Pay attention “flunk out” you might actually learn some history today.

          The U.S. was never defeated by Vietnam militarily, you would have known that if you had not flunked history classes. Rather the U.S. went bankrupt fighting a war it did not want to win because it could not win it. To invade the North would have brought both China and Russia into it and started WWIII and that the U.S. was unwilling to do. The U.S. admitted that from day one of the war.

          If and when Russia decides to invade Ukraine it will occupy every square inch of it and Ukrainian troops will not have a foreign Nato country willing to let them take refuge in and then mount guerrilla attacks into Ukraine against the Russians. That would give Putin the excuse he was waiting for to get back the Baltic Countries as well as Moldova and Romania in an all out European War. I seriously doubt you even know the geographical position of those countries mentioned and how it influenced and affected the outcome of past wars in them. I seriously doubt you have ever been aware of even their existence.

          Comparing the Ukrainian war/takeover by Russia to Vietnam or Afghanistan shows you flunked out both geography classes and World History Classes.

          No one who had a degree from any accredited institution of higher learning would keep making the idiotic comments you keep making on this forum on every subject you attempt to discuss, especially history.

          Try again you are out of your league.

          And you are too stupid to know when you are making a fool of yourself.

        • dacian, the DUNDERHEAD, Not hardly, little fella. We lost in Vietnam because the Viet Minh waged a propaganda war. We fought Vietnam with one hand tied behind our back allowing the Viet Minh sanctuaries for them to wage their war. Your Uncle Ho just waited us out until we could not continue the war due to public opinion.

    • to Possum
      quote—————–Theres a bunch of people in the Ukraine right now wishing they had as many gunms as the people in the USA do.
      quote——————

      And quote——————I didn’t say small arms would stop the Russians did I?———–quote

      You certainty implied it. Read your own posts.

  15. But the fact remains that for all and in spit of, the self justifying comments here that this obviously mentally disturbed young man WAS able to get access to arms and carry out a mass shooting. The blame game is of no consequence unless lessons are learned. The blame game is about history and history cannot be changed BUT, if we take lessons from history, the FUTURE surely can.
    Here in the UK we’ve also had a couple of incidences of mentally disturbed persons committing such acts. [ I think three in the last half century that I can remember] The last only a few months ago . In this case our authorities allowed a mentally disturbed man to regain possession of a SHOTGUN that had been siezed due to his mental incapacity. BUT the result is a PUBLIC INQUIRY into further GUN CONTROLS supported by the ELECTORATE not self serving justification.

    I am well aware that well adjusted and mentally stable persons do not engage in mass shootings but it is the law abiding and mentally stable who have theresponsibiliyy to do SOMETHING about it instead of hiding behind the money and self interest of the US Firerarms Industry and the supposed American Constitution.

    • @ Albert Hall

      “I am well aware that well adjusted and mentally stable persons do not engage in mass shootings but it is the law abiding and mentally stable who have theresponsibiliyy to do SOMETHING about it instead of hiding behind the money and self interest of the US Firerarms Industry and the supposed American Constitution.”

      Where are these law abiding gun owners “hiding behind the money and self interest of the US Firerarms Industry and the supposed American Constitution.” ?

      Hmmm… I’d like to meet some of this money of the firearms industry, but alas I haven’t seen a single penny from it. But what I do have is a right, not only a right in writing but also a natural and justified right to firearms.

      There is no such thing as a “supposed American Constitution”. There is the “Constitution of the United States”, do you have any concept of what that means, the difference between what you claim is the “supposed American Constitution” and what it really is? Didn’t think so, you claim to be from “across the pond” so its no wonder you have no idea having been indoctrinated in the diluted form of feudal tyranny under which you live.

      If you were driving your car here in the U.S. and run over a pedestrian or hit another car and injure the people involved, because you do that does that mean I should not own and drive a car? Does it mean I am hiding behind the money and self interest of the US Auto Industry? Yet, over 2 million people annually in the United States are injured in car accidents, including over 90,000 children – and between 1.2 million – 1.7 million of those will later die as a result of those injuries or complications as a result of those injuries yet they are not even counted in with car death statistics because they didn’t die in the accident or very quickly there after but none the less car accident deaths they are – and driving a car on public roads is just a privilege and not a right. So surely that means everyone should be punished by removal of, or restrictions on, their car operation privileges and not be able to buy a car until they pass a background check and are subjected to mental health screening, and subjected to an increased burden of government interaction, and should also be held responsible for that car accident you had, right?

      Oh wait. I see what may cause you confusion here, so let me rephrase it for you this way; People exercising the privilege of driving a car on the public roads KILL between 1.2 million – 1.7 million people annually – and its called “accident” but strangely no other drivers except for the ones involved are penalized for those “accidents’.

      Yet, a guy (or some others) with a gun purposely commits a criminal heinous act, mental health issues or not, and law abiding gun owners who did nothing criminal heinous are made to suffer with restrictions, and rights exercise removal procedures, and burdened with increasing weight of government control, on a constitutional right and we get called ‘murderers’, ‘extremists’, far right wing, and it becomes our collective fault and for some reason law abiding gun owners are all hiding behind “the money and self interest of the US Firerarms Industry and the supposed American Constitution.”

      I said this before, but I’ll say it again; You really need to stay on “the other side of the pond” and keep out of this, as you do not seem to know what is and is not a constitutional right and don’t even know what the Constitution is and represents.

      • Booger Brain

        Your bullshit is laughable. Yes big money protects the gun industry as the NRA pays off corrupt politicians so that no sane gun laws can be passed. Every nation on earth has Universal Background Checks and safe storage laws and many have restrictions on weapons of war like assault rifles capable of mass murder in seconds. None are needed for hunting and as President Biden said the most deadly weapon on earth is nothing more than a shotgun. He is correct I have seen up close the effects of a shotgun and a rifle and I would take being shot with a rifle any day over a shotgun.

        Go peddle your ignorant lunatic diatribe to the rest of your demented comrades as sane people are shaking their heads in disbelief.

        And by the way Booger Brain automobiles are necessary in modern society while firearms are not. Many nations get along just fine without guns or with heavy restrictions and bans on them.

      • @ Albert Hall

        In specific reply to your “hiding behind …. the supposed American Constitution.” comment.

        First, its not the “American Constitution”.

        Its the “Constitution of the United States” and absolutely zero law abiding gun owners “hide” behind it. If you understood what the Constitution is you would realize there is no need for a law abiding gun owner to “hide” behind it. The reason is the very expression of the Second Amendment by law abiding people by firearm ownership and use is in its self the embodiment of the Constitution and its always there even if a person does not own a firearm.

    • To Albert

      Excellent response Albert but this deraigined paranoids like Booger Brain are not playing with a full deck of cards. There is no amount of sane reasoning that will get through their twisted minds.

      Please be aware Albert that this forum is populated by some very mentally ill people and they in no way represent the majority of gun owners in the U.S. Surveys taken prove the majority of U.S. gun owners who are sane responsible people realize that the U.S. has a serous out of control gun problem and most agree that Universal Background Checks and Safe Storage Laws are a long overdue major first step.

      Better vetting for the purchase of firearms is also needed.

      I often point to the London Bridge Incident In Britain where terrorists who could not even get shotguns resorted to using knives and had the shit beat out of them when they attacked a British Pub. The pub patrons used chairs and broken beer bottles and beat the shit out of the terrorists. Here in Capitalvainia the maniacs would have just bought second hand assault rifles and killed everyone in seconds. Yet you cannot reason with the nut cases on this forum as their mental illness and paranoia prevent them from thinking clearly and sanely on the gun problem in the U.S.

        • Booger Brain you are even dumber than I originally surmised. You just cannot conceive of the fact that most people of all countries not just the U.S. are not as mentally disturbed as you are and do indeed support laws to keep guns out of the hands of lunatics and criminals because they care about their fellow citizens. They do not brush off with the wave of the hand the 38,000 firearms deaths a year in the uncivilized country of Capitalvania.

    • Albert the Subject,

      There is an active black market trade in guns, worldwide (even in Old Blighty). ANYONE who wants a gun, has the financial wherewithal, and a willingess to hobnob with the street thugs can acquire a firearm. Any reasonably intelligent person with mediocre skills and a Benjie in his pocket can MAKE a fully-functional firearm from parts you can buy at any Home Depot (don’t know what your local version would be).

      I know you aren’t cognizant of this, because you are a subject, not a citizen, but knowledge and will are the only limiting factors in being armed. That’s what comes from adopting the mindset of a citizen . . . something your monarchy and its subjects remain ignorant of, even after getting your arses kicked nearly 250 years ago by a bunch of “colonists” who just happened to have (among other things) a history of gun ownership and use, and a vibrant home-building industry.

      I guess people who can live in a monarchy for centuries, without rebellion, never learn the value of freedom and individual sovereignty. Your loss, Subject.

      Enjoy that subject status, Albert. We rejected it nearly 250 years ago. I guess it takes some people longer. A LOT longer, apparently.

  16. To the Demented Lamp that went out in his head

    quote—————There is an active black market trade in guns, worldwide (even in Old Blighty). ANYONE who wants a gun, has the financial wherewithal, and a willingess to hobnob with the street thugs can acquire a firearm. Any reasonably intelligent person with mediocre skills and a Benjie in his pocket can MAKE a fully-functional firearm from parts you can buy at any Home Depot (don’t know what your local version would be————quote

    Our forum Clown who professed to have 4 law degrees and has written dozens of books, none of which he can remember the titles to once again makes a complete fool of himself blowing off his mouth on a subject he knows zero about.

    Hey Dotard try and buy a handgun or any gun for that matter on the streets of Japan. I might add its almost as difficult in Europe as well. But what would a blowhard like you know who has never been out of Podunk junction.

    And genius boy last year a German man who could not get a legal handgun tried to make his own and it was a single shot that kept malfunctioning which prevented him from carrying out the mass murder he had planned. In Capitalvania he would have bought a second hand gun with no paperwork and massacred the entire church congregation he was attacking in seconds with a weapon of war.

    No Dotard Retard getting guns in civilized countries without paperwork is not the piece of cake you mouth off about in your total ignorance. In France a nut case tried to get a gun to commit mass murder and was denied it because of their thorough vetting system there. I mentioned only two of many cases proving that yes gun laws do work. No law is fool proof and no law can prevent a foreign country from training and supplying arms to terrorists but this is an act of war which the Far Right confuse with domestic gun laws when they were screaming about the attack several years ago at the French night club.

    Until you have traveled or lived in a foreign country or at least given the matter some study quit shooting off your big mouth about subjects you know zero about Dotard.

    • dacian the stupid,

      Every time I think you’ve reached “peak stupid”, you manage to outdo your last round of idiocy.

      No, of course you can’t buy firearms in Japan – the yakuza is armed entirely with knives and swords, right?? An idiot in Germany tried to make a single shot firearm, and was unsucessful? Well, I did say any REASONABLY INTELLIGENT person could do it, didn’t I? And where to all the Jihadist Islamists in Germany, France, Holland, etc. get the firearms they use? Give live physical birth to them??

      Read up on the “home manufacturing” firearms industries in Pakistan, the Phillipines, and many other countries. There are literally MILLIONS of military weapons in the hands of various criminal and/or guerilla groups around the world, but of course they never sell any of those guns on the black market.

      And HOW, pray tell, does any requirement for “documentation” in connection with the sale of a gun impact criminals is any way??? (Narrator: It doesn’t.)

      dacian, take your lunatic ravings elsewhere. You idiocy and outright lying just clutter up an otherwise pleasant forum. You are too stupid to insult. Go pound salt in your @$$.

  17. UUUM , NEED AIR PORT SECURITY , SOME THING LIKE THAT FOR OUR SCHOOLS . ??
    CAN’T FIX CRAZYS NOR STUPID .
    PRAYERS ALL AROUND FOR ALL .

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