Broward County School Shooting

[Ranger17]

These tragedies bother me more and more, sicken me is a much better description. Perhaps moreso now that my grandson has entered school, maybe as I live near a school, etc....

I sure don't know what the answer is, and the political battles that continue may never find a common ground to help prevent this in the future.

But as a parent, a grandparent, and frankly a human being; these just scare the heck out of me. I cant imagine what the families of the victims feel right now, my prayers go out to them

 

[zeke]

There are possible solutions and there are draconian solutions such as Australia used after a mass shooting.
We have been heading down that path for some time and something will be the straw that broke the camels back and a politician will just react, 2nd amendment be damned (is my fear).
No offense meant, but the shock and praying it won't happen, is not working.
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1. Quit naming these killers - they should be referred to as the shooter, and NEVER counted as one of the dead. Their name should not be spread over every news outlet for weeks, their face and name encourages other kids to do this. - Why else would these killers be doing this. How many mass murders were there prior to Columbine? Several yes, but not like we have today.
2. Mental health - records of folks who are not allowed to buy guns need to be shared with the background check system (this will only minimize the buying, because AR type rifles are prevalent and being rifles, easily bought in a vast majority of our states without any checks from private individuals (totally legal).
3. The next part is much harder to control and individuals can lose rights if done wrong - but folks who threaten or have done harm to others shouldn't be allowed to buy either.
4. Every school or target that is 'soft' needs to be tightened and secured. Safe rooms, interior locks to minimize access and slow down shooters should be implemented. I used to work at a HQ for a hospital and they were shocked that I suggested locks on every interior door. Only a mix-up by the company who was installing doors were locks placed on every door (it cost more money to order doors without locks than standard with them).
----
Gun enthusiasts hate any type of control, but if we aren't careful, major changes could occur by folks drawing a line in the sand of no gun control and those who desire complete gun control - one major or minor incident could be the tipping point. Let alone, the unspeakable; the 2nd amendment could be taken away. All it requires is a new amendment rescinding, it can and has happened, anyone remember the 18th amendment?

5) Teach trained investigators how to type a specific name from you tube onto google, and start tracking them down.

 

[oldIrish]

My siblings and I were raised by two parents. We ate dinners together and discussed everything imaginable at the dinner table. We did so with humor, respect and were taught tolerance and the ability to "see" many sides of issues without anger. When in public, we were expected to show respect and be aware that we were responsible for the "family name" when we dealt with others. We had an avenue for our angry & frustrated times and it was handled with our parents guidance. A very stable home life.

Seems to be a common thread that many who take their frustrations out on innocents, haven't experienced those advantages.

My parents took that responsibility to heart until they passed in their late 80"s. Does it seem that many parents abandon that and their children long before the lessons are learned? My prayers are for parents of the young generation, that they find the strength to guide their kids long after the norm. Don't ever give up expecting them to always do the
right thing. Hopefully, lead by example and don't quit once it becomes
inconvenient.

It's not the guns, not the laws...it's the mindset!

 

[jag312]

I hope this is acceptable. If not, feel free to delete it. Around 2000 or 2001, a student at DeAnza College in Cupertino, California brought a roll of film to be developed. The young woman, a teenager herself, who developed the film saw that they pictured improvised bombs and Molotov Cocktails. She alerted the Sheriff's Office. The SO arrested the student, and his computer had the details of his plan. He was going into the cafeteria at Noon when it was packed, and start throwing the bombs and Molotov Cocktails to kill as many other students as possible. There would have been a bloodbath. We estimated over 100 students killed. The suspect student was also known as one of the "weird kids" at DeAnza. Now to show you how close to home this could have been, my girlfriend's younger brother was a student at DeAnza and would always be in the cafeteria at Noon. Had the attack not been prevented, it is very likely that he would have been killed in the attack. When I told my girlfriend, her face turned white, and I thought she was going to faint.

What is the answer to preventing these shootings? I see it as a mental health problem, but I'm just an old retired LE. I'm not a mental health professional.

 

[Bugkiller99]

Started reading the published biographies of the ones killed. Couldn't finish it. Just.... couldn't.
So, so, sad.

 

[brjr51]

Prayers to the families.

My opinion, in the last 50-60 years we've gone from smaller schools to these huge consolidated "warehouses" of three to four thousand students. 99.99% get through it, but some get lost, fall through the cracks, and problems aren't caught or addressed.

 

[LVSteve]

School security went away with open plan architecture that has been the norm since the 1970s. Old schools looked like prisons back in the UK with big high walls and fences. I understand it was the same in many parts of the US. Do we want to go back to that?

Surprised that the perp was taken alive. The full story on his motives should prove interesting.

 

[DWalt]

Huge schools which are common today are easy targets. Another reality is that is much easier for some students to become alienated into problems. I went to a smaller HS (less than 80 in my graduating class) and everyone in that school was pretty much aware of what everyone else was up to. Not so in these superschools.

 

[richardw]

I think DWalt is on to a part of the problem. I graduated from a private high school in Sep 1959. The graduating class was 85. We all knew each other, and we all got along. The public high schools in the area had graduating classes of 350 to over 500. They had problems in those school with a lot of delinquency and hostility.

When I retired from the Corps in 89 and started to do feelance news and sports photography one of my first assignments was to cover the basketball team of a large Philly public high school. It had a senior class of 750. It was a scene full of cliques and some gangs. Only within those groups did student know one another. The are of the city that the school was located I was the most dangerous area to be in on the street. The teen were all alienated and craving attention. They got it through violence.
The horrible fact in our society is that troubled people are seeking attention. You can ready attention as help, but to them it is a sign of weakness to ask for it. So they live in fantasy and bad things happen when they act out bad fantasises.

 

[pawngal]

School security went away with open plan architecture that has been the norm since the 1970s. Old schools looked like prisons back in the UK with big high walls and fences. I understand it was the same in many parts of the US. Do we want to go back to that?.

I had just today thought about the physical structure of schools today. Open, court yards, multiple doors.
In middle school and high schools I attended, 3 story brick with no more that 3 or 4 doors. During school hours all but the door that went to the principal's office were locked to bar entrance from outside.
But it certainly wasn't to keep out a shooter. If you were late, you had to go to the principal. If you left the building for any reason, you had to come back in to the principal. Sure stopped you from skipping that one class you really hated! (or sneaking out for a smoke between classes)

 

[Papa32129]

Today my child had a concert on campus in his Elementary school. 400 thrilled parents watching the performance.
400 parents with their backs turned to the entrance and exit.
No security. No police protection.
My CCW was secured in the car.
I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Papa

 

[richardw]

I can feel your concern. When my kids were in school there was no such concern.

 

[LVSteve]

d to the entrance and exit.
No security. No police proToday my child had a concert on campus in his Elementary school. 400 thrilled parents watching the performance.
400 parents with their backs turnetection.
My CCW was secured in the car.
I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Papa

Hope it wasn't on school property.....

 

[jimmyj]

The information I have is that there was a armed School Resource Officer on duty at the school. Also the school is a very large campus. By the time the Officer was altered and arrived the shooting had taken place.

 

[Rule3]

Today my child had a concert on campus in his Elementary school. 400 thrilled parents watching the performance.
400 parents with their backs turned to the entrance and exit.
No security. No police protection.
My CCW was secured in the car.
I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Papa

Here in Florida for some stupid reason they feel a SRO is not needed at Elementary School? Only middle and High Schools?

I know several retired LEOS and the consensuses among them, is that there are so many retired LEOS in Florida that many of them would be glad to volunteer to take short shifts as SRO.

But Nooo the Schools will not allow it? Liability insurance and all that stuff.

BUT, it is pretty sad that these days we need to worry about school building design and having security to guard against mentally ill, crazy people!

Where does it end, movie theaters, Malls, Concerts ,Sporting events??

 

[hoosierone]

In my thinking, the only solution is to harden the target, bigtime. I believe in Israel the teachers are armed. That's a beginning. Then volunteer guards who are familiar with firearms. Us old GI's will recall guard duty. Plus armed hall guards inside.

I don't care what the perps personal issues are, my goal is to eliminate the threat before any innocents are hurt.

 

[doublesharp]

Quick thinking ROTC cadet.

Student covered pupils with Kevlar during Florida attack | Daily Mail Online

FTA:
A 17-year-old Florida high school student has retold his heroic actions after covering as many as 70 fellow pupils with Kevlar sheets during Wednesday's shooting.

After hearing seven shots, Colton Haab used his Reserve Officers' Training Corps skills, a program to train college students to become officers in the U.S. armed forces, to ensure the loss of life stayed at a minimum.

When he had managed to get the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School into a Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) room, he realized the Kevlar sheets used in the marksmanship program could be put to good use. . .

 

[Hawker800]

I'd like to see an interview with the person who informed the FBI of this nut job and nothing was done.

 

[zzzippper]

Terrible and I have no idea how to stop it from happening again. Apparently he had written on social media about what he was going to do and it was reported to the FBI but they couldn't track the post.

A local news station asked viewers, "If you had an unlimited budget what would you do?" One woman said she would buy back all of the AR-15s and that would solve it. Clueless.

 

[4011]

Not only are the parents of these dear young people suffering. Can only imagine the police having to go thru the crime scene. Gonna be some rough nights in Florida for a long time. I never had to go thru a horrific scene like this. But sometimes all these years later I replay a couple.