We are 45 days into 2018 and yesterday, by some reports the 29th mass shooting in America took place, taking at least 17 lives in a South Florida high school. True to form, the shooter has an assault weapon, something that no law abiding citizen needs for self-protection. These weapons have one purpose: kill a large number of people rapidly. As noted many, many times on this blog, NO OTHER ADVANCED NATION EXPERIENCES SUCH REGULAR GUN CARNAGE. As one commentator asked, what will it take to make Americans - and Republican politicians in particular - realize that America's gun laws are irresponsible and the underlying cause of such massacres. Less guns, not more guns, in the hands of civilians the the first meaningful step in stopping all the needless deaths. And frankly, if one is a "strong 2nd Amendment" politician, you have blood on your hands and indirectly are just as guilty as the shooter in today's horror. Not surprisingly, Der Trumpenführer, tweeted about meaningless "prayers and condolences" to families of victims. If he truly gave a damn, he'd be demanding strict changes to America's insane gun control laws. That, of course, will never happen (lest we forget, there are still rumors that Russia funneled money to Trump's campaign through the NRA).. When are families of victims going to reject the disingenuous bloviation of Trump and his GOP cohorts who kill gun control legislation and tell them to go fuck themselves? Better yet, when will the stop voting for Republicans? Here are excerpts from the Washington Post:
A heavily armed 19-year-old who had been expelled from a South Florida high school opened fire on campus shortly before classes let out Wednesday, killing 17 people while terrified students barricaded themselves inside classrooms, police said.
The violence unfolded at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, a school of more than 3,000 students in a tony suburb northwest of Fort Lauderdale where houses sit on broad lots.
The Broward County sheriff identified the suspect as Nikolas Cruz, who had recently attended the school but had been kicked out for “disciplinary reasons.” He was captured after a manhunt that transfixed the region and forced a nearby school into a lockdown, said Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel. Students recalled terror and confusion in the aftermath of the shooting.
“It’s catastrophic. There really are no words,” said Israel, whose own triplets graduated from the well-regarded high school. The victims included several students and adults, authorities said.
Kids were crying; some people were freaking out,” Kadel said. “I’m kind of surprised it happened here, but I’m not really shocked. School shootings happen all the time, and then the news just forgets about them.”
The gunman started firing before even entering the school, leaving a trail of carnage across the sprawling campus, Israel said. A dozen of the dead were found inside the school, and three were found outside. Two others succumbed to their injuries at a hospital.
.The shooter came to the school armed with weaponry that evoked a battlefield, not a school located down the street from an equestrian park. He carried “countless magazines” and an AR-15 rifle, Israel said. It was unclear if the shooter had a second weapon, the sheriff said.
Jim Gard, a math teacher at Stoneman Douglas High, which is named for an icon of the South Florida environmental movement — said he taught the shooting suspect last year.
“I had him almost all year. He just looked like a regular high school kids. Nothing outstanding. He didn’t act up in class, wasn’t loud or boisterous,” Gard said.
But at some point during the school year, Gard said, the school administration sent out a note with a vague suggestion of alarm, asking teachers to keep an eye on Cruz. “I don’t recall the exact message, but it was an email notice they sent out.”
Authorities who were beginning to analyze his motives had unearthed social media postings that “are very, very disturbing,” Israel said.
An Instagram account that appeared to belong to the suspect showed several photos of guns. One appeared to show a gun’s holographic laser sight pointed at a neighborhood street. A second showed at least six rifles and handguns laid out on a bed with the caption “arsenal.” Other pictures showed a box of large-caliber rounds with the caption “cost me $30.”
This is at least the third school shooting this year, and one of the deadliest on record. Beginning with Columbine 19 years ago, more than 150,000 students attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting on campus, according to a Washington Post analysis of online archives, state and federal enrollment figures, and news stories.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, summed up the responsibility of pro-gun members of Congress wee; Here is an excerpt from CNN:
Sen. Chris Murphy said Wednesday that Congress bears responsibility for the "epidemic of mass slaughter" in the US, addressing the Senate floor while news of a school shooting unfolded in Florida.
"This epidemic of mass slaughter, this scourge of school shooting after school shooting," Murphy said, "it only happens here not because of coincidence, not because of bad luck, but as a consequence of our inaction. We are responsible for a level of mass atrocity that happens in this country with zero parallel anywhere else."
The Connecticut Democrat has been an outspoken supporter of gun control legislation for years, representing the state where the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred in 2012, in which 20 children were fatally shot.
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