- That the latest school shooting, this one in Sante Fe, Texas that left ten dead, came so soon after the last one, barely three months ago, is meaningless. It is moral luck. Never mind, though: the timing, like everything else in the incident, will be politicized and used for political agendas.
Well, maybe not completely moral luck. A case can be made that the increasingly hysterical and long-running news coverage these tragedies receive—the last one dominated the news for more than a month—increases the likelihood that some sick kid who wants to go out in a blaze of infamy chooses this guaranteed route. No, you can’t blame CNN, much as I would like to. Nor is there any way to limit news reports and publicity, especially when it also becomes entertainment programming, and that is what the last school shooting’s emotional finger-pointing exercises became. The publicity, however, is more “to blame” than, say, the NRA.
- I checked developments just before I was going to write this bullet point: sure enough, the guns used and the shooter’s method of obtaining them had absolutely nothing to do with all of the “sensible” gun-control measures that have been shouted at us since Parkland. The shooter took his father’s guns, which were legal. The guns used didn’t include an “assault-type weapon.”
Indeed, this school shooting had nothing to do with gun regulations at all. Do you think that little detail will stop the anti-gun zealots from using it to advance their agenda anyway? Of course not; facts have always been irrelevant when gun-banning is the topic.
- And, sure enough, the first elected politician to intone about the matter lied, pandered, and made the job of anti-Second Amendment advocates easier. Said Texas Governor Abbott: “We need to do more than just pray for the victims and their families. It’s time in Texas that we take action to step up and make sure this tragedy is never repeated ever again.”
How, governor? How do you make “sure” this kind of tragedy never happens again? Confiscate guns? Ban schools? Ban children? I know the idea is to say comforting things, but the idea, repeated constantly after the Parkland shooting, that such shooting can be prevented (“easily” claim the student scolds) is foolish, dishonest, and invites bad policy.
- One measure that the facts of this episode points to, a factor that was present in the Sandy Hook massacre, is harsh penalties for parents who allow their legally purchased weapons to fall into the hands of their children.
Civil liability isn’t enough. There needs to be criminal liability.
- I’m going to write as little as I can about the complete déjà vu we will face now: the same illogical arguments, the same false statistics, the same emotional over-reach, the same grandstanding and virtue-signaling, the same irresponsible reporting, and villain-casting, and “think of the children,” and irresponsible uses of the words “safe,” “sensible” and the rest. I’ll just reference past posts.
Maybe I’ll use a simple code.
- This will be nauseating. Surely some of the students of the latest school to be shot up will seek the same fame and influence of David Hogg and Company, and there will be a host of sponsors to give them their chance. Their message will be indistinguishable from their models’ earlier versions—“Do something!”—-but we will have to listen to it as if it is the discovered wisdom of the ages.
We will also be told that students are afraid of going to school, and that telling them in response, “Well, get over it.You’re extremely safe” is callous and cruel, though completely true.
- I will not, however, submit quietly as the proto-totalitarian Left, aided and abetted by conservative cowards, creates a precedent for the principle that law-abiding and responsible citizens should forfeit their Constitutional rights because a tiny percentage of the population cannot be trusted with them. I have no faith that our political class has the integrity or the fortitude to resist the pointed fingers of self-righteous teenagers when they are sanctified by the news media and funded by Hollywood celebrities.
So I will buy a gun, the most powerful and effective firearm I can afford and handle. I don’t need one now, but since there is such a growing conspiracy to take away my right to obtain a gun when and if I do need one, the prudent course is to act now.
Ethics Alarms 
Actually, I’m a little surprised that FB hasn’t blown up on this one yet. The usual suspects among the progressives with whom I’m friends are oddly quiet so far.
It could be that the meme factories like Occupy and Other 98% are still trying to figure out how to play this one. But I suspect this one isn’t going to get quite as much play, because of the facts – which, to the news media’s credit, were promptly reported – that the weapons used were a shotgun and a revolver (not a semi-automatic handgun, though the argument could be made that a revolver IS semi-automatic).
Not that there won’t be attempts. The Bloomberg-backed Everytown or whatever the hell it’s called is already propagating a yarn that there have been something like three school shootings in the past two weeks, using the same flawed approach to metrics they used after Parkland. And as long as we’re talking politicizing – I was watching a streaming feed from a Texas station shortly after the story broke and they were all over the fact that some wearing a sidearm and a MAGA hat was on the scene. Naturally, the field reporters and the anchors were aghast, even asking upset parents what they thought of that. The answers were predictable. Maybe some of that made it into national feeds, but I didn’t see it. And of course, the media is already banging on doors in Broward County, hoping to obtain pithy quotes from the Parkland kids.
Still, I’m currently left with the conclusion that this one doesn’t fit the narrative, and the progs are desperately trying to figure out how to adapt the narrative to incorporate these inconvenient truths.
I wrote I was watching a streaming feed from a Texas station shortly after the story broke and they were all over the fact that some wearing a sidearm and a MAGA hat was on the scene.
That should be some chucklehead
Maybe they’ll finally go for broke and reveal their hand by saying “this (revolver & shotgun) just goes to show that we have to ban them ALL!”
Oh, I think that’s exactly what they will do. It’s basically what the Parkland Gang has been implying. Of course, they don’t know what they are saying half the time…
And what result would they expect other than criminal gangs like the Crips, the Mafia, and MS-13 having a monopoly on the sale and distribution firearms?
There will be some who say that, joed68, including the Parkland crew. But the anti-gun forces are extremely sophisticated and well-financed. They’re smart enough to know that the Overton Window hasn’t moved far enough yet to make that case effectively.
Yes, there will be those on the edges working to move the window. But the people who are really calling the shots on this are in something of a bind on this one, I suspect, and one of their own making; they overplayed their hand with Parkland and suddenly the whole “assault rifle” baby step is suspect.
And as I noted, the feting of Hogg and Co. as moral exemplars, celebrities and anti-gun warriors made attempted cashing in by Santa Fe students hard to stop. “Hey, our friends got killed too! Pay attention to us! We want OUR chance to call Dana Loesch a murderer! “ So to be fair to these kids, the campaign will have to be widened to all guns, and the Parkland tots will have to jump on the bandwagon or lose their spotlight.
This might be fun.
Don’t worry, in a hypothetical world, where guns would be banned, our moral betters would move on to the next best thing next best thing. I also envision, where you would need to pass a criminal background check and a psych evaluation to rent a Uhaul truck.
Ha! Well, all they have to do now is outlaw the carrying of forks, spoons, umbrellas, prosthetic limbs, and angry thoughts, and they should be pretty close to having a violence-free liberal utopia!
Yeah, the anti-firearm brigade have a problem of their own making with this one. They’ve played up the “military grade weapon” (scary black rifle) and “high capacity magazine” theme so heavily that they’ve sort of painted themselves into a rhetorical corner.
Neither of the weapons used here were the “no one needs a _____” type. They now have to figure out how to deal with the problem of modifying their preferred narrative without tipping their hand as to their goal being other than just wanting “reasonable gun-safety restrictions”. To spin the blame for this away from the damaged nutjob criminal and lack of school protection, and onto the hardware and and law-abiding gun owners will take more than their usual mental contortions.
Feel free to consult with me via this forum or by email. I don’t know much about many things, but I can unequivocally claim to be extremely well-versed in firearms and armed self-defense (gunsmith, gun-maker and NRA distinguished expert in both pistol and 4-position rifle)
Jack, I am glad to hear that you that you wish to lawfully exercise your 2nd amendment right. I wish you a smooth permitting process and a pleasant visit to your local gun store sometime in the future! I am not aware of the process in VA, but hopefully it is not more difficult than it would be in MA. It’s the last vanguard against tyranny, personal protection for you and your family, and a great way to spend weekends down at the range!
“smooth permitting process?!?”
What kind of hell hole do you live in where you have to get a permit to buy a self defence gun?
Where was the military?
Obeying the Posse Comitatus Act.
“One measure that the facts of this episode points to, a factor that was present in the Sandy Hook massacre, is harsh penalties for parents who allow their legally purchased weapons to fall into the hands of their children.”
Before I saw this post, I read my brother-in-law’s post on FB saying that parents should be charged and convicted if their child under 18 gets their unsecured gun and uses it to kill. I fully agree that gun owners are responsible for securing their weapons, and that failure to do so should be a chargeable offense, especially if bad stuff results when they don’t secure them. Along with emphasis on ‘assault rifles’ (which will not go away) I expect some increased focus on the responsibility of gun owners to secure their weapons.
But, my reply on FB, was along the lines of the devil is in the details. Why under 18, as opposed to, say, under 21? Why just parents, instead of, say, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbors, and so on. We have laws about liability for attractive nuiscances, so shouldn’t something similar apply to weapons? And, why just guns? Why not all weapons used to kill?
Parental responsibility for kids is devilishly difficult. Years ago, I lived next to a family with two kids. One now is a derelict bum, drug abuser, broke, probably homeless (last I heard). The other has obtained a PHD and is a college professor, happily married, etc. Same parents, neighborhood, schools, etc. For which child are the parents responsible?
So, yeah, gun owners do have a special responsibility for security, but how you legislate it and enforce it is not easily answered.
Who should have been criminally liable for the shooting death of Kate Steinle?
Any and all California legislators who brought “sanctuary cities” into existence.
Under Jack’s logic, President Obama should have been criminally liable, as it was his gun.
Yet another mass-killer who fits a very specific profile, as I’ve brought up before. School shooters are usually a very specific…type of person. Which is why all the chatter about the NRA, the alt-right, and mental illness is just completely barking up the wrong tree.
I did notice that CNN had a guest on with Anderson Cooper, who claimed the shooter wore an overcoat with “Nazi and fascist symbols”. Then they showed a picture of said overcoat – with an iron cross and a red hammer-and-sickle pin. Anderson Cooper never corrected his guest about the nature of this “fascist” symbol.
“Surely some of the students of the latest school to be shot up will seek the same fame and influence of David Hogg and Company…”
Maybe not. Broward County is VERY blue, with all of the corruption that implies. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is from there, after all. Galveston County went 60% to Trump in 2016, and only went that low due to Galveston and Houston proximity. We will see.
“…the first elected politician to intone about the matter lied, pandered, and made the job of anti-Second Amendment advocates easier. Said Texas Governor Abbott: “We need to do more than just pray for the victims and their families. It’s time in Texas that we take action to step up and make sure this tragedy is never repeated ever again.”
Jack, Gov Abbott has his head on straight. This was not pandering, lying, or anything other than telling the same story he has told all along. He is talking about hardening schools and getting good guys with guns in place. He is the LAST one to talk about gun confiscation. No matter WHAT he says, the anti-gun lunatics will twist the words, or ignore them.
“One measure that the facts of this episode points to, a factor that was present in the Sandy Hook massacre, is harsh penalties for parents who allow their legally purchased weapons to fall into the hands of their children.
Civil liability isn’t enough. There needs to be criminal liability.”
Great. More laws that do not help stop the situation. This is an emotiona knee-jerk response, akin to ‘Do Something! in my opinion. Look, these folks are already likely to lose their house, savings, and assets. What does putting them in jail accomplish? Locking guns up so tight that they cannot be accessed when needed defeats the purpose of the Second Amendment. Kids have to be trained on guns, and have to understand them. Adding a criminal act for the kid snapping makes no sense, and is a slippery slope for progressive prosecutors. In addition, this problem is so small, at least in Texas, that you are punishing the 99.99999% law abiding to get at the 0.00001% of parents whose kids commit this crime.
Get a gun, Jack. More importantly, practice with it, if you did not grow up shooting. A gun you cannot use effectively is no better than a baseball bat, just louder.
I’m VERY good with the baseball bat.
I figured