The System To Stop The Parkland Shooter Completely Broke Down, But Let’s Blame The NRA

The Washington Post points out just how badly the system broke down. They note all the red flags and warnings

How a system built to stop the Parkland school shooter repeatedly broke down

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office received a call in November with an ominous warning: Nikolas Cruz, a troubled 19-year-old, was collecting guns and knives and “could be a school shooter in the making.”

It was one of at least four times local or federal authorities were contacted about such a threat linked to Cruz, including a tip the FBI received in January warning that he would “get into a school and just shoot the place up,” according to a transcript of the call obtained by The Post on Friday. Another tip to the sheriff’s office the previous year warned that Cruz “planned to shoot up the school.”

In the era of “see something, say something,” members of the public did just that. But what happened after the November call fit a disturbing pattern in the lead-up to the Parkland, Fla., massacre: No report was filed, and there is no evidence the threat was ever investigated. (snip)

Investigations into mass shootings often reveal warning signs that seem blindingly clear with the benefit of hindsight. But the Parkland shooting has stood out for the sheer scale of how many alarms were raised before the Feb. 14 rampage.

There are dueling narratives over whether his guns could be taken away or he could have been involuntarily committed under Florida’s Baker Act. Regardless, all the signs were there, and action was not taken.

Law enforcement officials have drawn intense criticism for lapses involving Cruz. The FBI said it failed to investigate the January warning about concerns that he wanted to kill people, owned guns and could carry out a school shooting.

This person told the FBI that she worried Cruz was “going to explode,” a federal law enforcement official said Friday. Details of her call were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which reviewed a transcript of the call. A federal law enforcement official confirmed the information to The Washington Post.

One has to wonder if local law enforcement, including the Broward Sheriff’s Office, were notified. They were called to other disturbances, and the school resource officer, who failed to do his job and go into the school when the shooting started, may have done nothing with the information.

In November, a caller alerted the Broward County Sheriff’s Office that Cruz was collecting guns and knives, wanted to join the Army, may commit suicide and could be a school shooter. Authorities have not identified the caller, except to say they called from Massachusetts.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said this week that no report was filed on that call. After the Stoneman Douglas shooting, a deputy said he referred the caller to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, but a spokeswoman for that office said they were never told of that threat. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said it launched an internal investigation into the call but declined to provide further details about what happened after, citing the ongoing internal affairs investigation.

I’m just taking snippets out of the article for the overall failure of law enforcement at multiple levels (and we’re not even sure if the Florida state police ever were involved and failed) to take some sort of action. But, of course

Robert Bonczek (a 17 year old student at the school where Cruz went murderous) said most students are focusing not on blame, but with channeling their anger to press for changes to laws regulating guns.

“The FBI didn’t do their job, but it’s hard to do anything about that,” he said. “But with Congress, we can specifically make calls for change.”

See? This is the narrative. People failed to take action with a constant litany of credible threats, but, hey, it’s the gun’s fault, so, let’s pass more laws to disarm the law abiding citizens who won’t be turning into unhinged murderers.

I mean, we have kids suspended and kicked out of school for making finger guns, biting Pop Tarts into the shape of a gun, bringing in army men with fake plastic guns, bringing in water pistols. Kids have been told they can’t wear Army and Marines shirts. Yet, no one did anything about Cruz. But, we’ll try and take your guns in the meantime.