Best reason yet to ban all guns

James and Kimberly Snead

It seemed to be common knowledge that Nikolas Cruz was troubled to the point that he both needed mental therapy and at the very least ongoing close observation. He had been in trouble repeatedly at school and was known to torment animals and he regularly posted online about his quirky behavior. He came to the Snead household, where he lived when committing his atrocities, with a semi-arsenal of weapons including the AR-15 and two other rifles that James Snead said would be considered assault rifles, as well as knives, BB guns and pellet guns.

But this didn't impress Snead because...

"James, 48, a decorated Army veteran and military intelligence analyst who served in the Middle East, said he didn’t mind that Cruz had guns because he had plenty of weapons himself."

Supposedly Snead made Cruz lock up his weapons and took the key, not knowing the boy had kept a key for himself. Duh?

But apparently both he and his wife Kimberly were completely oblivious to Cruz's problems, as evidenced by this statement...

“Everything everybody seems to know, we didn’t know,” James Snead said. “It’s as simple as that.”

No, it isn't that simple since you, the Sneads, accepted the responsibility of this young man, knew he was obsessed with guns, and should have known more about his day-to-day activities. Not that it's a for-sure, but if this family had paid just a little more attention to what Nikolas Cruz was saying and doing, 17 people might still be alive today.

If I am correct in the above, and I believe I am, it illustrates a complete lack of responsibility by a gun owner and we have seen this kind of example before. Most notably with Adam Lanza, who killed 26 children and teachers at Sandy Hook in 2012 with his mother's AR-15. Nancy Lanza also ignored warnings about her son's mental problems and left the assault rifle unsecured. This is happening too often and banning all guns may be the only solution.

Can these young people force gun control laws?

Emma Gonzalez

Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School does. That's the school in Parkland, Fla, where Nikolas Cruz fatally gunned down 17 students and teachers with an AR-15 he bought in Florida at age 18. The young people including Gonzalez and organizer junior Cameron Kasky announced they have banded together to compel lawmakers to pass gun control laws that will make their schools safer. They have planned "...a nationwide march on March 24th, dubbed the 'March For Our Lives.'"  If I were politicians, or anybody, I wouldn't get in their way.

Esquire reported in Ft. Lauderdale Emma Gonzalez exclaimed to a cheering crowd, “...'shame on you' directed towards all politicians who take NRA money." They are serious and have made several exclamations that they hope to make this the "last" school massacre. You can see the full transcript of Gonzalez's Ft. Lauderdale speech on CNN. The older groups failed to get anything done, no doubt because many of them own guns and are members of the NRA. The younger group, 30s to 40s, have some advocates for gun control but apparently not willing to fully get behind the program.

But when it happens in your school, and you are a community like Parkland, Fla, you do something, and that's what is happening. Maybe it takes a group of late teens like these students who are not yet a part of the American gun culture that has literally ruined this country since the resurrection of the 2nd Amendment, and they simply don't give a damn about guns. I don't either, never have, and hope like hell they succeed.

Thank NRA's Marion Hammer for Parkland, Fla gun massacre

NRA's Marion Hammer

As late as January of this year, Marion Hammer, the National Rifle Assn.'s elite Florida lobbyist, was railing at the Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times, "...

"...warning the sheriffs of Florida that they had no right to testify about pending firearm legislation. Not when their words conflicted with the positions of the National Rifle Association."

Can you believe this? And in the nation's bloodiest mass-shooting state where "...29-year-old Omar Mateen murdered 49 and wounded another 53 in a gun rampage at an Orlando nightclub." Followed by the encore last Wednesday at Parkland, Fla, where Nikolas Cruz gunned down 17 students and teachers with an AR-15 assault rifle he bought at age 18. All of this compliments of Marion Hammer making sure that Florida's gun laws allow anyone with a warm body to buy a gun. The woman has also spread her lunacy around the country promoting the NRA's gun rights.


Yet not one word from Hammer or the NRA's Wayne LaPierre on the Florida deaths. How long do we allow the NRA's killing machine this kind of power?