Texas Mass Shooting: 16 Known Dead.

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W. James Antle III
May 27, 2022
How the police's handling of the Uvalde shooting could inspire more people to arm themselves

https://theweek.com/school-shootings/10 ... -ownership

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If people do not feel that the police or other government entities can protect them or their families, they will resort to self-defense. That — more than bloodlust, indifference, or the gun lobby — is why school shootings have done less than gun control proponents would have hoped to move the needle on legislation. In fact, some respond to these incidents by buying guns themselves.

If the law enforcement reaction was botched, portions of the public may turn against policies they believe will end up disarming them. That won't be a universal response — many will continue to see some sort of government action on guns as the solution. Questions at Thursday's White House briefing demanding Biden or Congress do something far outnumbered inquiries about how the police handled the situation.

But others will see a diffident official response to the attack and will want their children defended by people who know and care about them: their teachers, neighbors, families, and themselves. And they will find the arguments that only trained professionals can be trusted to deal with armed assailants much less persuasive if those professionals are seen as less willing to engage than people who know the children personally.
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Columbine. Sandy Hook. Parkland. Uvalde. What do we do now?
May 27, 2022
By Peter Grier Staff writer
Henry Gass Staff writer

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/ ... -we-do-now

Fellow in segment quoted below is a 20-something from Uvalde.
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The next day, normal life has resumed for Mr. Amor. He’s back in San Antonio, back at work. But he’s been talking with his supervisor about the shooting. They’ve talked about red flag laws, about writing lawmakers and channeling grief and anger into political action. He returns to what he was thinking about the day before, and he wonders if there’s something deeper at play.

“Love your neighbor like you love yourself – but nobody knows their neighbors anymore,” he says. “Everybody’s just stuck in [their] own world, and nothing else really matters.”

People have tunnel vision, he adds. “It’s all fast-paced, and then it’s either fast-paced in the right direction or it’s fast-paced in the wrong direction.”

Sitting outside at a Starbucks near his work, he cycles through possible solutions. Hardened schools, red flag laws, raising the age to buy a long gun. But then he cycles through all the arguments against those solutions. Under the fierce Texas sun, he debates himself over and over, until he throws his hands in the air and flashes a rueful smile.

“It’s easy to [say], ‘It’s out of our hands,’” he says. “But how do we – ah. I guess, where do we start first?”

What about taking a step back? We always see the same pattern: an initial wave of grief and anger, and then life moves on, because it has to. Do we need to not move on somehow? How do we do that?

“You bottle up the anger, and you shake it up and you use it as a motive,” he says. “Shove it in front of their face every single time we have to vote. Make sure they know that we do not want this to happen again, it cannot happen again.”

“As long as we try to entertain the reasons why we couldn’t, we’re never going to see the reasons why we can, and really take on the responsibility to do those things,” he adds.
"
bold added by me

Who’s responsible for preventing school shootings? ‘We’re all on duty.’
May 27, 2022
By Sarah Matusek Staff writer

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2 ... ll-on-duty

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Dr. Langman began his study of school shooters unexpectedly in 1999, when, shortly after the Columbine massacre, he was asked to evaluate teenagers for their potential as school shooting threats. The Pennsylvania-based psychologist spoke to the Monitor about pathways to prevention. The exchange has been lightly edited and condensed.

Do you consider mass school shootings as inevitable or preventable?

They’re certainly preventable, and many potential attacks have been thwarted. We tend not to hear about them, because it’s a nonevent. ... I think it’s worth knowing that many people see warning signs, report them, and [school shootings or other attacks] are prevented. So that’s the good news, that they are preventable.
"
Links embedded in above text:
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In this report, 51 completed and 51 averted incidents of school violence, drawn from the
ASV database, were analyzed to help further our understanding of averted and completed
school attacks. The report also seeks to provide important lessons about how school vio -
lence can be prevented.
"
https://schoolshooters.info/sites/defau ... idents.pdf
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This project was supported, in whole or in part, by cooperative agreement number 2014-CK-WX-K023
awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. The
opinions contained herein are those of the author(s) or contributor(s) and do not necessarily represent
the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
"

and

School Climate & Safety
Thwarted School Shooting Plans Don’t Get Much Attention. Here’s How That Affects School Safety Debates.
By Evie Blad — March 07, 2018 5 min read

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/thwar ... es/2018/03

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Schools, parents, and law enforcement agencies regularly intervene before would-be shooters attack schools, but those thwarted plans understandably don’t get the same level of coverage as mass shootings. And the resulting imbalance in discussions can affect the debate over how to keep schools safe, school safety experts say.

That’s because focusing largely on successful attacks can make them seem inevitable, turning conversations toward physical safety measures—like security hardware and armed officers meant to minimize damage in the event of a shooting.

But experts say school safety is also about “invisible” prevention measures: intervening with students in crisis before they develop an intent to harm others, creating an environment where students feel safe and comfortable reporting concerns about their peers, and developing systems to respond quickly to threats.
"

Looks like the focus of investigation has (predictably) moved to the inaction of the police
https://www.9news.com.au/world/police-i ... ac3e3b461d

My feeling is if you join the armed forces or police then you have a duty to protect the vulnerable (particularly small children). I think all of the police involved need to resign in disgrace and seek alternative employment.

I am surprised this has not been brought up but I wonder if the inaction of the police was an overcorrection to all of the defund the police, cops are sadistic racist killers talk. Apparent racist killings by police have happened post George Floyd but different people react differently to criticism. Their reaction was very “by the book” in a situation that required the opposite, they just had to wait for the tactical team. When under withering criticism and close scrutiny a common tendency is to be very cautious, to make sure all the i’s are dotted and t’s crossed.

I guess with Republican/Conservatives defund the police is so 2020. Get with the program, its trans groomers that are the existential threat of 2022.(sarcasm).

Justice Dept. to review law enforcement response to Uvalde mass shooting

Sadly", I agree with your surmise Fnord. So far as I can see, Mexicans in the USA are another "othered" group, devalued and stigmatised as "less than", not by all but by many, a process highly and painfully familiar to AS people.

Were the victims at Stoneman Douglas mostly minority? If not, what was the reason for the slow response then? It can't be racism. But a similar response from the police at a majority Hispanic school (where a large Hispanic population exists, some of them police officers) is due to racism?

Cowardice, perhaps? No children belonging to the police officers present at that school, perhaps? Poor preparation, perhaps? Or is it ALWAYS racism...

The great 'thinkers' on WP are losing their edge in favor of knee-jerk assumptions and conclusions of racism at every turn.

I have to wonder if those Texas SWAT cops would have hesitated to get ther tactical body armor smudged if those kids had had blond hair and blue eyes.