Broward County is hardly a Republican district. In Congress, they are represented by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the disgraced former head of the Democratic National Committee.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel is a Democrat. He has spent the days after the shooting blaming Republicans for refusing to disarm Americans. On CNN's scripted town hall, Sheriff Israel condemned the National Rifle Association for refusing to stand up for these school children.
What's interesting about that is that we now know it was the Broward County Sheriff's Deputies who refused to stand for the shooting victims. Literally, they were sitting on the ground in the parking lot, hiding behind their cars while Nikolas Cruz went classroom to classroom shooting students.
At first, we learned that one officer -- serving as an armed school resource officer -- refused to go in. Now, we know that three other Sheriff's Deputies hid in the parking lot and refused to save the students.
President Trump called them cowards. He's right.
I have a number of police officers in my family. Most of the current and retired officers that I know personally are honorable men. But these four in Florida were cowards. They protected themselves while innocent children were gunned down just yards away.
And Democrats think that only police should have guns?
The fact of the matter is that American gun laws didn't cause this shooting. Law enforcement inaction did.
We knew that the FBI received calls warning that Cruz would try to shoot up a school. We also just learned that the Broward County Sheriff's Office ALSO received a tip in late November that Nikolas Cruz would try to shoot up a school.
The Department also got a call warning that Cruz had experienced a loss in the family and should have his guns moved to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.
All of the warning signs were there. The local and federal law enforcement dropped the ball. Then, when bullets actually started flying, these officers -- including the same local deputy who answered the school shooting warning call -- hid in the parking lot.
I am no hero. I'm pretty good with a pistol and rifle, but nothing that I would call serious marksmanship. But I know that if I had a gun and heard unarmed children being gunned down, begging for help, I would act. If you randomly selected four gun owners from the American population, I don't think you'd find four that would choose to hide instead of save the children...
And yet, these officers hid.
They will get what is coming to them. The school resource officer who was paid literally to protect students has already been fired. The irony is that the officers who refused to protect the students are now standing outside HIS home to protect him from the angry community. I'm not going to publicize their names. I'll leave that to CNN.
But I am going to say that this is a wake up call. We all hope that when we need police help, that they will come. But the fact of the matter is that the police in this country do not have a constitutional duty to protect you. If you call and ask for help, they can say no.
The Supreme Court issued this ruling back in 2005 in the case Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales. In that case, my local police department refused to act when a woman called to report that her estranged husband had kidnapped her children. Hours later, the husband showed up at the police department and had a shootout with police. When the officers opened the trunk of his car, they found the murdered children.
The woman sued, condemning the police for doing something. The Supreme Court ruled that the police didn't have to do anything.
Do not let Democrats and establishment Republicans leave you powerless!
There are two takeaways from this tragedy.
1) The police and FBI utterly failed this community. That isn't me being anti-law enforcement. That is me telling the truth. There needs to be serious changes in these departments to make sure when four different people call to warn that someone is a school shooter in the making, those tips get acted upon.
2) Americans right to keep and bear arms for self defense must be protected, preserved, and expanded.
We are calling on Congress to pass legislation on both of these fronts. Yes, reform the FBI. Punish those agents who didn't take the calls seriously and empower local law enforcement to prevent and stop school shootings in the future.
But also empower the American people as well.
Pass the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act and make sure that when licensed and trained gun owners travel across the country, they are no longer forced to disarm when leaving their home state.
We also need to arm teachers and school staff members. We all know that school shootings end when a good guy with a gun arrives on the scene. In Arapahoe County, Colorado, there was a school shooting a few years back that lasted only 80 seconds because an employee jumped into action as soon as shots rang out. Give capable teachers the ability to defend themselves and their students.
This is the path forward. Right now, Congress is hearing from gun control advocates demanding new gun control laws. It took Marco Rubio all of a week to surrender and agree to banning magazines.
You must get loud and put pressure on Congress too!
No comments yet - make the first one!