I was going to hit you all with a Part 2 about a new smile, but instead hate and fear spread across South Florida in an instant and changed the entire weekend mood.
So we're going to do this. We're going to talk about gun control, school shootings, personal responsibility and how we can change all of this.
The Florida shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was a bad egg. A lot of people who knew him have claimed he was capable of the acts he carried out Wednesday - walking into his former high school with an AR-15 rifle and shooting dead 17 people.
Cruz, 19, had been expelled from the school before he was to graduate. In the aftermath of his expulsion, several students warned authorities about Cruz, and even the FBI received two tips about him. Where President Trump is wrong, however, is his claim that the FBI missed this because they are also investigating his ties to Russia. This had nothing to do with Russia, and the FBI is more than four guys and an intern eating donuts and watching "The Wire."
The FBI simply failed. But it goes deeper than that.
Cruz was able to possess a semi-automatic weapon legally. In order to buy a beer or a pistol, he would have to be 21. I'm all for streamlining rules and regulations to make it easier to do things - but one thing I do not agree with is shrinking the background checks for buying weapons and ammunition. I do not agree with not registering weapons.
I'm not saying "take all the guns!" - I'm not saying that at all. But in all honesty, could you stand in front of the families of victims and tell them that your right to buy a weapon from a stranger is more important than their child's right to learn algebra?
We should treat weapons like we treat cars. It is not the car's fault a drunk driver killed a family, the same way it is not the gun's fault for being in the hands of a psychopathic murderer. Some people are evil; some people are negligent. Arguably the best way to begin to lower the rates of these instances is by more regulation. And you can argue all you want on the other side, but Gallup polling from October 2017 shows 96 percent of Americans now say that background checks should be required for all gun purchases, with 75 percent wanting to enact a 30-day waiting period for all sales. Seventy percent support requiring all privately-owned guns to be registered with police.
First and foremost, each weapon should be registered, and any sale should be documented. Of course there will be criminals who slide by the law, just as thieves steal cars or even some of our local neighbors drive their vehicles unregistered. Check out our Record page from time to time and you will see multiple instances of this very issue of unregistered vehicles.
Background checks should also be performed - thorough checks that cover domestic abuse cases, psychiatric treatment and drug and alcohol abuse history, amongst others. We are not going to stop all criminals, but gangs don't roll into Connecticut elementary schools and blow away teachers and kindergartners. Gangs don't roll into a rural Texas church and shoot parishioners.
And for those clamoring to arm teachers or to place armed veterans at schools - while the intent is in the right place, state and federal governments have taken away too much money to afford that. Teachers have to buy their own pencils and dry erase markers, but now the schools are going to have money for gats and security guards?
The other part of this epidemic is the state of our mental health crisis and the seeming lack of personal responsibility around the country. No, I am not talking about the "wussification" of America - on the contrary. Too many people have dealt with depression and mental illness for years. We simply have started doing a better job of classifying and labeling the patient numbers. But where a lack of prescription drugs landed us 20, 30 and 50 years ago, we see commercials all the time asking us to "talk to our doctor if ..." and that side effects "may include suicidal thoughts" or violent outbursts.
These are prescribed drugs, mind you, not street drugs. And while someone who needs money for smack may mug a stranger on the street or break into another person's home, they are not taking a weapon with the capability to fire off hundreds of rounds in minutes into a church or school. We need, as a society, to find a better way to treat mental illness. And I'm not talking just about cures, I'm talking about respect. We need to accept and be willing to help those suffering from bipolar disorder, depression or any number of issues. Nobody with mental illness asks to struggle with it.
And finally, personal responsibility in America needs to step up. Our problems in our country are ours. We need to be the change we want to see. We need to stop drinking and driving as a collective whole. We need to stop blaming entire groups of people - whether its race, or gender, or poverty level, or whatever side of the city or border they grew up on. We are all one, and the moment we all start treating others with respect is the moment the hate and vitriol starts to dissipate.
If we do these things, I truly feel the rate of these tragedies will begin to subside. When Columbine happened in 1999, there were six school shootings that year, and the nation asked, "When will this epidemic end?" There already have been five school shootings leading to injury or death in just seven weeks of 2018, according to the Washington Post. And according to the World Health Organization, 91 percent of children under the age of 15 who are shot to death live in the United States.
This is not because God is "not allowed in schools." God is allowed at a church in rural Texas. God was allowed at a country music concert in Las Vegas. Murder happens not because God isn't allowed to protect people through prayer but because some people are just inherently evil.
We should be willing to regulate. Be willing to allow the system to deny those who shouldn't have guns from purchasing guns, so when they get caught with a weapon, they face even harsher penalties. We should be willing and ready to act on this issue today.
Maybe next week I can smile again, and we can dive into something less controversial and saddening.
- Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Monroe Times. He encourages discussion on this issue - or really any issue - by contacting him at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.
So we're going to do this. We're going to talk about gun control, school shootings, personal responsibility and how we can change all of this.
The Florida shooter, Nikolas Cruz, was a bad egg. A lot of people who knew him have claimed he was capable of the acts he carried out Wednesday - walking into his former high school with an AR-15 rifle and shooting dead 17 people.
Cruz, 19, had been expelled from the school before he was to graduate. In the aftermath of his expulsion, several students warned authorities about Cruz, and even the FBI received two tips about him. Where President Trump is wrong, however, is his claim that the FBI missed this because they are also investigating his ties to Russia. This had nothing to do with Russia, and the FBI is more than four guys and an intern eating donuts and watching "The Wire."
The FBI simply failed. But it goes deeper than that.
Cruz was able to possess a semi-automatic weapon legally. In order to buy a beer or a pistol, he would have to be 21. I'm all for streamlining rules and regulations to make it easier to do things - but one thing I do not agree with is shrinking the background checks for buying weapons and ammunition. I do not agree with not registering weapons.
I'm not saying "take all the guns!" - I'm not saying that at all. But in all honesty, could you stand in front of the families of victims and tell them that your right to buy a weapon from a stranger is more important than their child's right to learn algebra?
We should treat weapons like we treat cars. It is not the car's fault a drunk driver killed a family, the same way it is not the gun's fault for being in the hands of a psychopathic murderer. Some people are evil; some people are negligent. Arguably the best way to begin to lower the rates of these instances is by more regulation. And you can argue all you want on the other side, but Gallup polling from October 2017 shows 96 percent of Americans now say that background checks should be required for all gun purchases, with 75 percent wanting to enact a 30-day waiting period for all sales. Seventy percent support requiring all privately-owned guns to be registered with police.
First and foremost, each weapon should be registered, and any sale should be documented. Of course there will be criminals who slide by the law, just as thieves steal cars or even some of our local neighbors drive their vehicles unregistered. Check out our Record page from time to time and you will see multiple instances of this very issue of unregistered vehicles.
Background checks should also be performed - thorough checks that cover domestic abuse cases, psychiatric treatment and drug and alcohol abuse history, amongst others. We are not going to stop all criminals, but gangs don't roll into Connecticut elementary schools and blow away teachers and kindergartners. Gangs don't roll into a rural Texas church and shoot parishioners.
And for those clamoring to arm teachers or to place armed veterans at schools - while the intent is in the right place, state and federal governments have taken away too much money to afford that. Teachers have to buy their own pencils and dry erase markers, but now the schools are going to have money for gats and security guards?
The other part of this epidemic is the state of our mental health crisis and the seeming lack of personal responsibility around the country. No, I am not talking about the "wussification" of America - on the contrary. Too many people have dealt with depression and mental illness for years. We simply have started doing a better job of classifying and labeling the patient numbers. But where a lack of prescription drugs landed us 20, 30 and 50 years ago, we see commercials all the time asking us to "talk to our doctor if ..." and that side effects "may include suicidal thoughts" or violent outbursts.
These are prescribed drugs, mind you, not street drugs. And while someone who needs money for smack may mug a stranger on the street or break into another person's home, they are not taking a weapon with the capability to fire off hundreds of rounds in minutes into a church or school. We need, as a society, to find a better way to treat mental illness. And I'm not talking just about cures, I'm talking about respect. We need to accept and be willing to help those suffering from bipolar disorder, depression or any number of issues. Nobody with mental illness asks to struggle with it.
And finally, personal responsibility in America needs to step up. Our problems in our country are ours. We need to be the change we want to see. We need to stop drinking and driving as a collective whole. We need to stop blaming entire groups of people - whether its race, or gender, or poverty level, or whatever side of the city or border they grew up on. We are all one, and the moment we all start treating others with respect is the moment the hate and vitriol starts to dissipate.
If we do these things, I truly feel the rate of these tragedies will begin to subside. When Columbine happened in 1999, there were six school shootings that year, and the nation asked, "When will this epidemic end?" There already have been five school shootings leading to injury or death in just seven weeks of 2018, according to the Washington Post. And according to the World Health Organization, 91 percent of children under the age of 15 who are shot to death live in the United States.
This is not because God is "not allowed in schools." God is allowed at a church in rural Texas. God was allowed at a country music concert in Las Vegas. Murder happens not because God isn't allowed to protect people through prayer but because some people are just inherently evil.
We should be willing to regulate. Be willing to allow the system to deny those who shouldn't have guns from purchasing guns, so when they get caught with a weapon, they face even harsher penalties. We should be willing and ready to act on this issue today.
Maybe next week I can smile again, and we can dive into something less controversial and saddening.
- Adam Krebs is a reporter for the Monroe Times. He encourages discussion on this issue - or really any issue - by contacting him at akrebs@themonroetimes.net.
