Unpleasant Facts

Let us begin with facts. Hard, verifiable facts. First there have not been 18 school shootings since January. Not every discharge of a firearm on a campus constitutes a "school shooting." For more details look here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/no-there-havent-been-18-school-shooting-in-2018-that-number-is-flat-wrong/2018/02/15/65b6cf72-1264-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.c7bec6d0c8d1

Secondly, an AR 15 is not an "assault rifle." It is a semi-automatic sporting rifle which is why it can be sold in stores and not exclusivly in gun shops. Do I think any rifle or any firearm needs to be sold in the same place l buy dog food and toiletries? No, but it's not a military grade weapon. For more details, look to:

https://www.nssf.org/msr/

Here are some other facts. 17 people died in a Florida high school. This should not have happened. This is an instance where we now realize that this could have been avoided.

A licensed peace officer was, under the appointment of deputy, on the scene and he did nothing. He said he heard the shots, he saw the gunman, he heard the screams. He did nothing. These too are powerful, important facts.

This is the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Ethical Standards of Conduct: http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/CJSTC/Officer-Requirements/LE-Ethical-Standards-of-Conduct.aspx

Something very similar to this hangs on my office wall. When I was in uniform it was framed next to my gear cabinet. Now it hangs next to me as I fulfill my duties to my community.

Now another fact: you never know when you will be called to fulfill those duties. You never know when, what day or time you will be held to the mark by your oath, your word, your standards. But it is a day that will come, and not everyone makes good on their oath.

These are the facts. Here is another: there are no easy answers to the problem.

We as a nation, as a society, as a community of people, face a foe built from irrefutable facts. Stricter gun laws won't stop people who have no regard for the law. Shaming and blaming the victims will not dull the tragedy. Arming teachers will not make the school any safer. There are more ways to terrorize, injure, and kill innocent people than with a firearm. And shaming the man who failed his test with tragic results that will haunt him the rest of his life—and make no mistake, this will haunt him—will not undo his failure.

Now another fact. A serious converstion needs to be had. It needs to be had about accountability in our courts. Accountability in our government, and in ourselves. We need to have a serious conversation about mental health, not just in recognizing problems, but in treating them. Our prisons and jails have been forced to take the strain of those who can't find suitable care facilities elsewhere. They choke the system, deplete the resources and leave no better than they came because no one there can help them. Just like a teacher with a gun is not a soldier, a corrections officer with a mental subject is not a psychiatrist. I point this out because while not all of the 18 reports of dicharged firearms on a campus were school shootings, almost all of them come down to mental health or personal accountability.

These are facts, and so they shall remain until we do something about them, as a united country. Until we stop blaming each other or hunger for the next morsel of news to blow out of proportion, we will not see change. Not until we think and talk and take proactive action.

Please, sit down and talk. Lets change the facts.

Thank you.