Here’s a write-through on the latest gun massacre in a U.S. school — with 17 dead apparently killed by a former student at the Broward County, Fla., high school with an AR-15, the semi-automatic rifle of choice among mass killers He’s now in custody.

Here’s a recent account from the local daily newspaper. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said on MSNBC that he was told the student set off smoke grenades, which triggered alarms that drew students into hallways where they were shot.

Advertisement

The usual reactions followed what has now become a common occurrence in America. There was the incantation of the cliched “thoughts and prayers” by people like gun advocate Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. There were the anguished cries of gun safety activists that prayers are meaningless without action.

I’ve seen less of the misdirection normally mounted by gun protectors that tragedy is no time to talk politics. There is no better time. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, an NRA backer, chose to say it was time to talk about school security (rather than guns, the root cause of school insecurity). Rep. Bob Ballinger, one of the legislature’s leading gun zealots, rebroadcast a Twitter comment of thanks for the new legislation that will allow guns in more places, including college campuses, to “mitigate” such attacks. This presumably implies opposition to efforts to clarify the law so that concealed weapons may not be brought into dorm rooms. I’m advised Ballinger’s retweet is of a parody account. He apparently missed the joke, as you can see.

Advertisement


Silence so far on social media from such gunners as U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and his acolyte in the state Senate, Trent Garner. Before the shooting, Garner was vowing not to give an inch in opposing legislation to clean up the campus carry bill so that at least does what it intended to do, keep concealed weapons out of college dorms.

Post-massacre, will Garner be just as strident in support of more guns in the hands of more people? In his case, almost certainly yes. But I do wonder about at least a few others in the legislature. Does the latest massacre not give them pause? And forget criminal use and the promise of responsible concealed carry permit holders. More guns mean more gun injuries, by accident if nothing else. If no gun is present, no one can be accidentally struck by an accidentally fired gun.

Advertisement

Earlier this week, I spoke on a Facebook video of an AR-15 being used in a mass slaughter in Connecticut. A reader remonstrated me:  The weapons are “hunting, self-defense, and target firearms,” he wrote.

Hunting humans.

Advertisement

For the record: Australia banned assault weapons (semi-automatic military-style arms), among other gun measures after a massacre.  Since then gun violence has declined there. I know. Different countries.

The popping of gunfire in a classroom should give any right-thinking person pause. You can find it in the link below.

Advertisement

Advertisement