At a Loss

 

Sigh.
I’m sort of at a loss on how to write this piece.  
 

 

I had originally planned to do something on one of the most famous modern fantasy authors, Mercedes Lackey, getting kicked out of the SFWA, along with her husband Larry Dixon (who apparently got kicked out for no better reason than being married to the “evil person”) on the eve of her getting the lifetime achievement award by that same organization, for committing the sin of calling someone a “colored person” instead of a “Person of color.”  
 

 

I understand the NAACP is now in hiding while they quickly change their name to the NAAPOC.
 

 

It’s doubly ironic, because Misty was writing with gay protagonists and “WOKE” themes long before any of the nobodies that make up the governing body of the Science Fiction Writer’s Association were BORN, and because the complaint didn’t come from the person she was speaking of, who said they didn’t care at all, when asked, but from some stupid bint in the audience.
 

 

Of course, she has spent a fair amount of time in the mob baying for the blood of conservatives for “wrong-think” so the fact that the mob has now turned on her is, well, unsurprising, if you know anything about communist movements, and make no mistake the current “woke” crowd are watermelons through and through (green on the outside, red on the inside.)
 

 

I was going to mention something about the recent SCOTUS decision on delaying arbitration making you liable for a strait up lawsuit.
 

 

I was also going to cover Biden’s thrice and future flub on what we will do if China invades Taiwan. As well as the XinJiang Police Files (see here:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/85qihtvw6e/the-faces-from-chinas-uyghur-detention-camps ) and the recent thwarting of an attempt to assassinate former President G. W. Bush.
 

 

Then there’s this IDIOT: https://truthpress.news/news/democratic-socialist-candidate-calls-for-people-to-break-into-homes/ who is running for Congress from Washington state, (I would like to apologize to the nation for this bint) and wants a million people to break into and squat on any unoccupied houses they find, as well as demanding a $30 an hour minimum wage.
 

 

And I was going to say something about Memorial Day, as a reminder that this day is not about us the living, the veterans, or the patriots, but about those “who will not grow old as we grow old.”
 

 

Of course, all of that became irrelevant yesterday when a sick son of a bitch decided to shoot up a school.
 

 

The children who died are the saddest part of this whole thing, of course.  But nearly as sad is the way this all went down, and our behavior as a nation as a result.
 

 

So, the first takeaway is that the initial reports are always wrong.  No, I’m serious. ALWAYS wrong.  The nature of our twenty-four-hour news cycle rewards URGENCY, not accuracy. 
 
The initial reports had the kid (and yes, 18 years old is a kid, if you don’t like that opinion, I have others you will straight up hate.) coming to the school with a handgun, and “maybe a rifle” to shoot up the school, and shooting windows and everything that moved.
 
Well, that didn’t last more than about six hours, before it was corrected to “he had an assault weapon.”
 
Now, belatedly, the truth is coming out, but you have to look for it. (a fact I’ll come back to.)
 
Here’s what we do know, if you look hard enough: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/gunman-was-bullied-as-a-child-and-grew-increasingly-violent-friends-and-relatives-say/
This kid was a ticking time bomb, people knew he was mentally ill and didn’t do anything about it.  (By the way, the link I posted is wrong too! The third paragraph says he had body armor on.  Turns out according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, AKA the Rangers, he had a load-bearing vest on… not body armor.  Once again, the press can’t get it right to save their ass.)
 
Anyway, interviews with people who knew this kid showed he had been into self-mutilation, had been bullied HARD over speech impediments and a stutter, would drive around shooting random people with a BB gun, had been a frequent star in police activity due to fights with his mother that involved having the cops called, and dreamed of shooting people… 
 
In short, this boy was a poster child for the use of “Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 573.” Under Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 573, a police officer, with or without a warrant, may take someone into custody if the officer has reason to believe and does believe that the person has a mental illness, and because of that mental illness, there is a substantial risk of serious harm to the person or others unless the person is immediately restrained. The police officer can take the person into custody without a warrant if he believes there is not sufficient time to obtain a warrant before taking the person into custody.
 
Further, Chapter 573 allows police to confiscate and hold any weapons, including firearms, that are found in the possession of the person taken into custody. (Source, USLAWSHIELD.com accessed 5/25/22)
 
We also know that he shot his grandmother, at time of writing she was in intensive care, and was fleeing from law enforcement when he wrecked his car in the ditch by the school, dashed into the school, and started shooting up the place.  Here confusion reigns. One version has him walking in and shooting everything that moves, another version has him fleeing into the school from law enforcement and barricading himself in a classroom.  What is known is that all of the victims were in one classroom, and that’s where the police shot him as well.
 
We don’t know for sure if he was actively fleeing law enforcement when he crashed into the school, or if they were there for some unrelated reason. We don’t know if he exchanged fire with LEO before going into the school, though that SEEMS to be the case.  We don’t know how he got into the school, since the doctrine for schools these days is that doors are supposed to be locked to the outside with crash bars on the inside, as one of the things learned from Columbine and other school shootings.
 
Finally, we don’t even know if the school was his original target, or if when he wrecked his vehicle that was the closest target available and this insane little fool decided to “go out in a blaze of glory.”
 
What we do know is that the school wasn’t following the lessons learned from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting, and that there were no security guards, seemingly no locked doors, and nothing to keep this guy out.
 
And we know that literally before all of the victims died, the president and the Democratic party were using this event to cry for more gun control.  Now, it’s worth noting here that one primary difference between this shooting and Columbine, (other than Columbine had more victims) was that Columbine happened while the “assault weapon ban” that Biden is waving the bloody shirt about, was in force.  Yes, that’s right, the thing Biden, Schumer, et al are demanding to be brought back, did NOTHING to stop a school shooting.
 
Now the next cry is, and we’re already hearing it (Oh my GODS are we hearing it, my FB this morning was insane) was the total banning of firearms, “Mr. and Mrs. America turn them all in!” to quote Nancy Pelosi.  OK, first off, there’s that nasty second amendment, which the SCOTUS has made quite clear says you can’t do that. Then there’s the whole Why do you think criminals, who after all don’t pay attention to laws in the first place, will abide by THIS law? Finally, we have had two hundred years plus worth of proof that prohibition does NOT work in this country.  
 
My Gods, we can’t stop Fentanyl, Meth, and Heroin, what in the world leads you to believe we can stop guns, which after all can be made in your garage, from getting in?
 
No, if you want to reduce Spree shootings I’ll refer you to a post a friend of mine made in 2021:
 https://thewriterinblack.com/2021/03/24/how-do-you-propose-to-end-mass-shootings-then-a-blast-from-the-past/
He makes several very important points.  You should go read the whole thing, but let me quote a couple of high points here: 
“First, let’s dispense with that ‘end’. I hate to tell you this, but you can’t end them.  ‘Gun control’ certainly cannot.  France’s strict gun control did not prevent Charlie Hebdo nor the 2015 Paris attacks.  India’s draconian gun laws did not prevent Mumbai.  Norway’s gun laws did not stop the spree shooter there.  And so on.” 
 
“No matter what you do, somebody, somewhere, who intends to harm others–particularly if they’re looking at going out in a blaze of ‘glory’ (with “infamy” serving for their purpose)–will find a way to do it.  When you use it as a justification for restrictions on the law-abiding there is no end to that.  No restrictions will ever be enough.  So, it will always be an excuse for more restrictions.  And if at any point anyone objects, you can do then as you do now and say ‘Don’t you care about the victims of gun crime?’”
 
“In fact, gun control is a large part of the problem.  The vast, vast majority of mass shootings of the “spree killer” type (which is what most people think of when you say “mass shooting” and is different in causes and dynamics than the “domestic murder-suicide” types and the “gang war” types, both of which require different approaches to reduce) happen in gun-free zones.”
 
He goes on to point out that over 90% of mass shootings happen in gun-free zones. (and yes, military bases, since you are not allowed to carry on post unless you’re a part of the guard force is a gun-free zone… Now examine that for a second. Somehow we wrap our head around the idea that the guy that’s guarding nuclear weapons for 8 hours with a loaded fully automatic weapon, is suddenly unsafe to carry a pistol once he takes off his duty belt!) 
 
He further points out that in cases where armed citizens were present at the start of the shooting, the body count is dramatically less. “FBI studies covering 2000 to 2017 had 33 cases of spree killers where armed citizens were present.  In 25 of them, the armed citizen totally stopped the attack.  In an additional 6, the armed citizens reduced the number of casualties.  That’s 94% of the time the situation is made better by armed citizens being present.” Oh and that whole argument that poorly trained citizens would increase the number of people “caught in the crossfire?” Guess what? Number of people killed “in the crossfire” according to the FBI?  
 
ZERO.
 
TLDR version of the rest of his solution and points:
End gun-free zones. End “may issue,” if the state can’t show a reason NOT to issue a CWP, they must do so. (Of course, he, as I would prefer constitutional carry, but that’s just not going to happen in all states.) National reciprocity for issue (If the state I live in says I can carry, I can carry anywhere in these United States, just like I can DRIVE anywhere.) 
 
Further: Establish a fund to provide cash rewards to those who stop a spree killer. Offer marksmanship and CQB electives in high school and college. (this isn’t as far-fetched as you think, these classes EXISTED in the ‘40s and ‘50s.) and finally:
 
“Implement the “Some Asshole Initiative.”( see:  https://imgur.com/gallery/5dSs8p4) The reason these guys look for soft targets, look to rack up the high body counts in the first place, is that they’re looking for their moment of fame (infamy).  Stop.  Making.  These.  Assholes.  Famous.”
 
Now the rest of the story, is the story being told.  See I subscribe to several different news sources, because basically, I’m a nosy SOB.  Besides, it gives me so much fodder for this little thing I do.  Here’s the thing.  The feeds on “Live updates on 19 kids, 2 adults slain in school shooting” as found here for instance: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/live-updates-19-kids-2-adults-slain-in-school-shooting/
 
Well, they don’t lead with anything ACTUALLY ABOUT the shooting.  The lead piece at least as of 1335PM 5/25/22 is that “that evil bastard Trump is going to speak at the double evil, no good, bad, wrong think NRA convention, even though kids are dead!  Don’t you just HATE HIM???”  OK, there’s some rhetoric there, but seriously that might as well be the article.  
 
Next on the “updates on the school shooting” is what some German politician has to say about “how horrible it is that Americans are still allowed to have guns!”  What’s the matter Frau, don’t we have enough “work makes free” signs for your liking? (they do note that Germany just had a crossbow attack at a school, and earlier this month, they got a 16-year-old with bomb-making equipment and weapons that was planning on a school attack, so in spite of what they would like you to believe, we are not alone in this crap.) 
 
Then we get something about how Connecticut “Where the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened” is sending cops to schools, and how other states are doing the same, and offering counseling, because kids thousands of miles from the event might be traumatized by it.
 
Following that we have a bit about how Chucky Schumer is waving the bloody shirt over the Republicans and the NRA stopping him from banning all firearms, those evil bastards!
 
Finally, down at number five we have something actually about the event, at least peripherally.  It seems that there were posts on Instagram and TikTok in the days leading up to this event that might have given a clue that this boy wasn’t quite right in the head, and was plotting some sort of craziness.  If only someone had said something…
 
Then and only then do we get to actual news of the event, at least briefly, before going to:
 
Ft. Lauderdale where they want to talk about the father of one of the kids killed in the Florida shooting in 2018, as he watches the jury selection for the penalty phase of his kid’s murderer, and how he feels about this… 
 
Finishing with what Matthew McConaughey (who was born in the city where this went down) has to say about events. (Because an actor’s opinion is just, like, you know, super important and shit.)
 
So, in summary, of the eight “news pieces” that they are queuing up, all but two are, not news of the event, but about how horrible the fact that guns exist is, and how wrong that we haven’t outlawed them, the Second amendment be DAMNED. 
 
This is what we call “reporting” these days.  Walter Winchell would be so proud.
Take care, watch your six, 
Until next time I remain,
Yours in service.
William Lehman.

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