Why didn't they just outlaw murder? Oh...

I think that the governor is trying to please all sides and it's backfiring on him. The left is upset that he's allowing school employees to defend themselves and the right is upset that he's raising the age to buy a rifle.

I think that we all agree that more has to be done about allowing mentally ill people access to guns, but that is a very complex issue. Exactly how do we define mental illness? Are people who are diagnosed with dysthymia or mild depression to be deemed to be mentally ill? Is everyone who is on some mild anti-depressant going to have their rights taken away?

It also should be obvious that law enforcement has to do a better job of reporting issues and communicating with one another.

I can't imagine that anyone in an active shooter situation wouldn't want to be armed. Some are going to say that the answer to that is to eliminate all active shooter situations. I'm all for that if it can be guaranteed that we'll never have another crazy person get a gun and start shooting up schools and airports. But how is it possible to guarantee that? I think that if you believe that we can do that, you're more than a bit naive. The only way to #1 discourage these shootings and #2 to ameliorate the damage done when they do occur.

As far as raising the age to buy a rifle I don't see that doing any good and I think that it will eventually be overturned in court.

The thing is that the fact that 18-year-olds could be drafted into the military and sent to fight for our country was grounds for lowering the voting age in 1971. I think that the bottom line question is; At what age do our constitutional rights kick in? If it's 18 for voting, how can an argument be made for 21 to own a firearm? I think that it has to be one or the other.

Raising the age is going to prevent single mothers age 18-20 from buying a gun to defend their homes and children. Where is the outrage about sexism and age discrimination?

Good post Winston.

I don't think it bans them from owning hand guns though. Which one would use as self defense. You def don't want an AR-15 in close quarters with kids sleeping in the next room etc...

Also, if there are so many 18-20 YO single moms who are constantly needing to kill Babby Daddy's and ex boyfriends, etc...we should just pack it in and give up. Is it really that much of a thing? Goodness.

Anybody care to venture a guess how much these new laws will impact any potential future event?
How about what the impact would have been if theses laws were in effect a year prior to the shooting?

The new laws are nothing more than political eye wash.
Chest thumping rights for a political speech.....i.e. see what we did to curb gun violence.

Impact on violence, gun or otherwise.....less than negligible!!

Impact on violence, gun or otherwise.....less than negligible!!

Yep. If only the FBI or Broward's Sheriffs had followed up on existing laws, or the Broward school officials did not embrace Promise Program "hug a thug" policies that lowered student arrests artificially, the shooter would have never been allowed to purchase guns under EXISTING LAWS!

Meanwhile politicians pass laws to make people think they are "doing something"

All political BS......nothing will change . A problem only for one country in the world. Why is that ?

Unfortunately, we are not the only country in the world with mass shootings.

Sorry, Despite Gun-Control Advocates' Claims, U.S. Isn't The Worst Country For Mass Shootings | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD

Actually, this new law raises the age for obtaining a rifle from 18 to 21. The age for owning a handgun is already 21.

A homeowner in Texas just used an AR-15 to defend himself and his home against three armed assailants.

There are probably more single mothers attack in this country on an annual basis than there are school shootings. As horrible as they are, school shootings are relatively rare. More kids are killed in Chicago every week than were killed in Parkland in one day. Why aren't we just as upset about that?

I believe that having some school employees armed may help to deter some of these school shootings. Especially if signs are posted warning that some employees are armed. The worst thing that we can tell people who want to kill large amounts of people is that they are in a gun-free zone. Now if they'll only take down those ridiculous signs at airports and allow lawful concealed carry permit holders to bring their guns into the terminal we'd all be a lot safer there as well.

"This school is no longer a gun free zone"..

In low population countries (e.g. Norway), it only takes a few high fatality incidents...to really skew these stat's.


The real issue, as usual...is to follow the money (or the lack thereof in this case).

The fact that the NRA hasn't been able to incite enough fear by screeching "they're trying to take away your guns"... has resulted in a precipitous drop in gun sales in 2017.

To the point that prior to Parkland, Winchester was filing bankruptcy...and gun sales overall last year were down tremendously.

Inside Republicans''' New Direction on Gun Restrictions | Time

Personally I believe the conversation is focused too much on the tool and not enough on the problem. Here is the question that needs to be answered: "Why now? Guns have been a part of our society since this countries inception, why is it now acceptable in the minds of some, to pick up a weapon, and kill innocent people, lots of people, at one time? Why now? Where is this motivation born?

Laws will never stop these incidents and its not the AR-15 platform that is the problem. Read my post about Columbine. The two had made bombs from 20 LB LP Bottles that luckily did not explode. Had they worked, the estimated casualties would have been over 400. It would have collapsed the roof of the building.

As for teachers being armed, I don't have a problem with it , if the school employee, who ever that might be, volunteers and is willing to put in the extra time. I'm not going to make that decision for them, it's their decision to make. I personally would volunteer and take the training.

As for the age of 21 for rifles. I started hunting with my friends at the age of 16. I think I even purchased my own shot gun at the time. However, from what I see today, I'm not sure today's average 18 year old is as mature as we were when my friends and I were that age. There is a difference between being well informed and mature. We were mature but had less information available to us then today's kids. Also I don't remember anyone I ever knew talking about walking into a school and playing real time target practice with the student body. There were acceptable boundaries that you did not cross. I don't see these kids having the same conceptual understanding of boundaries.
The AR-15 semi-auto rifle platform is a very efficient, well designed, weapon. Far more efficient then a bolt action, or lever action rifle. I'm not sure I want that rifle in the hands of an 18 year old unsupervised.

As for banning the AR-15, I will never support that approach. However I could see it changed to a different class which requires more scrutiny to own one. This has already been done with a number of other firearms.

This, in my opinion is an extremely valid post.

Especially, and capturing what I see as the problem, your opening paragraph....

"Here is the question that needs to be answered: "Why now? Guns have been a part of our society since this countries inception, why is it now acceptable in the minds of some, to pick up a weapon, and kill innocent people, lots of people, at one time? Why now? Where is this motivation born?"

Stores likely to face more lawsuits over ban on under-21 gun sales - NBC News

These laws look like they are written too broadly. Probably will be struck down by various state courts.

As intended by the authoring politician(s).
They retain bragging rights for having "done something"......in their own narrow political mind anyway.

Laws written out of gut reaction usually don't stand up to scrutiny.

The Troubled Tenure of Scott Israel, Sheriff of Broward County

The Troubled Tenure of Scott Israel, Sheriff of Broward County | The New Yorker

I taught for the last 5 years and could not carry a weapon by contract. Any other person with a concealed carry can bring a weapon on campus. I really don't want to carry at school but I don't want the potential shooter to know I am unarmed. Some should be. In our school, even the security is not allowed to carry and that wrong. I am a gun advocate with nearly 40 years in the military and combat experience. I think we need to tighten the rules on selling weapons but not ban them. I was appalled to learn this kid bought that weapon at 18. I would be in favor of raising the age for buying to a much later time. Mass killings have been done with knives, are you going to ban knives? Mass killings have been done a lot with trucks and cars, going to ban them? We can't keep guys like this from doing it but we should have people armed that can stop it. In the Florida shooting we did and that guy should be prosecuted for failure to do his job just as a soldier would be for desertion. He took the money for years and then didn't do his job when the time came. Wish the answer were simple but it isn't.

Just pass a constitutional amendment that says criminals must obey the laws.

Easy peasy

And when those who have no idea what they are talking about propose stricter gun laws....stop and ask them specifically what do they have in mind.

Then enjoy the silence (perhaps some stuttering mumbo jumbo).

In my town the fire department sirens were used to tell students to get under desks and pray because a nuclear bomb was on the way.



The Safety films were used to help keep children safe and minimize fear.

extra credit

Duck & cover days
 

I saved my desk. :D