Anna Erishkigal (on FB):

My 16-year-old told me some of the kids at school are organizing a ‘protest’ against the shootings, to advocate for the removal of all firearms from this country because ‘who needs guns to kill.’

So first I informed her that there are over 400,000,000 guns in this country, not all owned by nice people who will give their guns up if asked, and that the law already prohibits murder or guns on school property, and that automatic weapons are already illegal, and that the average mass-shooting lasts 3.5 minutes, and then I led her through the FACTS of this case the way I would a witness if I was cross-examining them on the witness stand:

1. The school expelled this kid because he was violent. They did not refer him for mental health counseling or a mandatory 90-day psych evaluation. They continued not to do that when the kid kept showing up at the school 30+ times to cause trouble, but called the police.

…..School = FAIL

2. The police responded to the school the aforementioned 30+ times, plus an ADDITIONAL bunch of times, bringing the total number of calls the local police had to deal with this kid to be 39 times. During at least two of these calls, people reported he’d allegedly ‘waved a gun around’ and ‘threatened to shoot people.’ The kid was not arrested. The kid was not referred for a mandatory 90-day psych evaluation as was within the police’s right.

….. Local police = FAIL

3. Three weeks before the shooting, somebody close to the kid calls the FBI and warns them the kid is nuts, has been amassing ammunition, and threatening to shoot people. The FBI do nothing.

…..Federal police = FAIL

4. Even though this kid was ‘known’ to the school to be mentally unsable, no longer a student, and violent, the kid somehow gained access to the building through their lax security, which in most schools comprises of one of those little grey ‘buzz in’ boxes and then you walk right in to sign in.

….. School building entrance security = FAIL

5. The kid started shooting people. There was a $75,000 per year ARMED security guard who was on-site at that building, but he hunkered down even though he could hear gunshots and kids screaming and did not go in.

…..On-site security guard = FAIL

6. Somebody calls 9-1-1. The police are 8 minutes away.

…..Police response = FACT OF LIFE

7. Three more Broward County deputy sherriff’s arrive. The kid is shooting, other kids are screaming and dying. Rather than storm the building, they hunker down with the first cowardly security guard and wait the full 8 minutes until the local police arrive and storm the building.

….. Police = FAIL

So, I lead my kid through those facts, and then I ask her if she trusts the government to protect her?

She says, ‘Mom? Could you teach me how to use a gun?’ “