Following the tragic and eminently avoidable murder spree in a Florida high school this month, it occurred to me just how liberals think the expansion of government is the answer to every problem people face.
Correct me if I’m wrong in my diagnosis of the problem in any way.
This was a government school, almost all of which throughout the U.S. have been turned into “gun-free zones” so children will be “safe.”
This school, it turns out to its credit, had an armed sheriff’s deputy on campus who wore body armor in the line of duty and was termed a “school resource officer,” a designation he apparently took to heart in the midst of the crisis he was presumably there to avert. He hid behind a concrete pillar outside the school while 17 students and faculty members were murdered and 14 others were wounded with five facing life-threatening injuries. Later, three other Broward County deputies arrived. They, too, took up positions outside the school, but didn’t enter. Not until Coral Springs police showed up did any law enforcement officers enter the school.
Meanwhile, Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old gunmen who wrought this carnage, did just about all he could manage to do to tip off government authorities that he was a ticking time bomb.
- On Jan. 5, a caller to the FBI center warned about “Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting.”
- On Nov. 30, a caller to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said Cruz was collecting guns and knives, wanted to kill himself and could be “school shooter in the making,” according to police records. The caller was told Cruz was no longer living in Broward County, and the deputy referred to caller to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Internal affairs is now investigating the handling of that call.
- On Nov. 27, the family with whom Cruz was staying called the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office concerned that their 22-year-old son and Cruz were having a dispute and that Crux said “he was going to get his gun and come back,” records show. The mother of the family said Cruz had “bought a gun from Dick’s last week and is now going to pick it up.” A deputy spoke to the two young men, got Cruz to apologize, hug the 22-year-old and that was the end of it.
- On Nov. 24, the same family called the sheriff’s department to say they were concerned Cruz had hidden a gun in the backyard. It’s unclear whether sheriff’s deputies conducted a search. The incident was classified as “domestic unfounded,” which means a deputy didn’t find proof to back up the claim.
Seemingly countless reports were made to law enforcement about the danger Cruz posed to others, going back to 2016, particularly as a potential school shooter, as he himself had suggested on social media. At every turn, government officials did nothing to head off the explosion that would come on Valentine’s Day.
And then law enforcement officers froze in fear outside the school until after Cruz had fled the scene and dropped his gun.
Do liberals blame the gunman? Do liberals blame themselves for creating a society devoid of values and common sense? Do liberals blame themselves for creating fake “gun-free zones” that only ensure law-abiding citizens don’t have guns and turn schools into mass killing fields? Do liberals second-guess the policies they have created that have led to more mass school shootings in the first 18 years of the 21st century than there were in the previous 100 years of the 20th? Do liberals blame government ineptitude for the mayhem?
The answer to all of those questions is no.
Liberals blame inanimate objects – guns. And they are demanding that President Trump, whom they call a “tyrant” and liken to Adolf Hitler, confiscate guns from law-abiding Americans despite the constitutional guarantee to the right to bear arms. They do this knowing that Hitler and every other genocidal tyrant in the 20th century confiscated firearms from the public before killing tens of millions of hapless, defenseless citizens of their own countries.
America was founded as a self-governing society, meaning that citizens largely govern themselves and their own affairs rather than depend upon “rulers” for their safety and security and livelihood. What resulted was the freest, safest and most prosperous society in the history of the world – until liberals demanded – and largely got their wish – a system like all the other nations in the world in which government was god.
There are many lessons to be learned from this tragedy. But the biggest one is: Don’t bet your life on government saving you or your child in the next emergency.
