I have some thoughts on Uvalde after more than 72 hours. Feel free to disagree if you desire.
Yes, the left has jumped up and down in the blood of the dead children and teachers without a thought in hell for WHAT those families are going through right now.
These are the names you want to remember and say a prayer for-
The 21 victims of the Uvalde school shooting
Makenna Lee Elrod, 10
Layla Salazar, 11
Maranda Mathis, 11
Nevaeh Bravo, 10
Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10
Xavier Lopez, 10
Tess Marie Mata, 10
Rojelio Torres, 10
Eliahna “Ellie” Amyah Garcia, 9
Eliahna A. Torres, 10
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
Jackie Cazares, 9
Uziyah Garcia
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10
Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10
Irma Garcia, 48
Eva Mireles, 44
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, 10
Alithia Ramirez, 10
Irma Garcia, 48
Eva Mireles, 44
And the three unnamed survivors and the grandmother who are still in the hospitals in the area.
There are a number of questions that we still don’t have answers to, and may not for a good while as the investigation continues, but there are some things that stand out.
WHY was the back door left open? Especially if a teacher looked out and turned away? That one simple action of locking that door/securing the school would have at least delayed the shooter’s entry into the school.
Where was the SRO? Or was this a situation where the SRO shuttled between schools? And why did he/she NOT have a master key to all rooms?
The shooter had ‘problems’, this was known, but apparently nothing was ever done, and he was not on medication. Was this to ‘protect’ him? He was bouncing from home to home, apparently due to ‘anger issues’…
Where did he get the appx $6000 to purchase TWO high end ARs, plus glass, plus 1000 rounds of ammo? He was 18, apparently working at Wendy’s, bouncing home to home, etc. But came up with that much money as a high school aged teen? I really have questions on that…
Do I blame the gun shop? No, the kid passed the 4473 background check, and they are in the business to make money, not turn away sales. Also, we have no idea what he told the gun shop.
Apparently he stole the ‘new’ F250 he was driving from his grandmother, but that is an aside for now.
Who was he talking to on social media? This one is being obfuscated on purpose, I believe.
What happened with the police ‘response’? Did they follow procedure or not?
As reported, apparently the BORTAC entry team had to get the master key from the custodian for the rooms. Why???
What does the left want? Outright ban/collection of all ARs is their goal. For now, depending on whom you listen to, they want 21 years for minimum age to purchase any gun.
They are refusing to address any of the mental health issues, policy/procedure failure issues, or anything else in their ‘drive’ to take these guns away. Nothing is being said about the ‘copycat’ aspects of this either. They are pushing the narrative that ARs are NOT for hunting, and are nothing more than ‘man killers’… I’ve owned a couple of them for over 20 years and neither of them has ever gone off on their own, much less killed anybody… And I will not voluntarily give up a gun I used for competition and marksmanship training.
Robert Francis O’Rourke ensured that he will not be able to be elected dog catcher in Texas (IMHO) with the shit show he pulled at the initial press conference in Uvalde (which he set up, it was NOT spontaneous).
Gov Abbott, FWIW, made an excellent point at that press conference. 18 year olds have been able to buy long guns for 60 years in Texas, and we did not have shootings like this until the last 10-12 years, corresponding with the rise in use of social media like this and the online gaming community.
This is NOT about the gun, it’s about the cultural aspect that we are seeing today, especially among the disaffected young who think everything has a reset button that brings you back to life.
Nobody is saying we should ban cars since drunks and loonies use them to kill people. Why is that? If you want to ban ONE object (guns), why not ban ANY object that kills people (cars, trucks, airplanes)? Or knives like Britain has done (and how well has THAT worked)?
And last but not least, Michael Ramirez gets it right.
Many of the same questions can be asked of the Buffalo shooting. That kid also had some VERY expensive kit. In addition there are credible reports that a Fed agent had been corresponding with that shooter right up almost to the start of the shooting. Was the kid in Uvalde ALSO in contact with someone in the Fed Gov. The left….which includes almost ALL Federal LEO now….WANT mass/spree/school shootings. They NEED them to scare the sheeple into bleating for them to take our guns away. Only an abject moron would believe that criminals in positions of power and authority are NOT egging on countless maladjusted kids in the hope that a tiny percentage of them actually act out on their rage and anger.
+1
“What does the left want? Outright ban/collection of all ARs is their goal. For now, depending on whom you listen to, they want 21 years for minimum age to purchase any gun.”
And ANY semi automatic weapon (Joe has, for the moment, fixated on 9mms), and ALL “high capacity” magazines (whatever that means).
I spent the weekend trying and failing to talk logically with some high school classmates about this. It was like talking to my cat for all the good it did. One, an attorney, said “screw the Supreme Court!” when I brought up Heller. They really are letting their inner dictator show.
I don’t blame the guns.
I blame the educational system that produced this monster.
Was it a black flag op? How do you get people to volunteer to die for a black flag?
You don’t tell them they’re being volunteered.
If for no other reason than you can’t count on them dying, and you very much cannot count on them not speaking if put into custody.
Nailed it Bob.
A good example might be Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby. Only Oswald didn’t manage to hang himself in his cell.
That close to the border could have been mule money… maybe porn… maybe fbi … The Buffalo one looks like suicide … ( blaze of glory ) , Pat
Good luck with getting any answers to those very salient questions. I suspect this’ll turn out like the Las Vegas shooting. Many questions that need answered but will be swept under the carpet.
Didn’t work out that way for him though … Pat
A couple of things I am unclear about. Were there no windows in this classroom? why not try to go in through the them after they are breached? Apparently there was a connecting door to another classroom was this door locked as well? What about the ceilings were they drop in or something else. Why didn’t they try to breach the door(s) with breaching rounds?
Some schools lack windows as an energy-saving feature. Newer school windows can’t be opened and are shatter proof (more than a ball-bat needed to break them) for security as well as energy efficiency.
The high school I went to was made with no windows. It was built in 1960.
The junior high was a bit older, and had windows when I was there in the early 1970s, but by 1990-ish they’d been bricked up and all the exits had been walled or barred and the entire school converted to single-point-of-entry.
The only difference between the schools and the state prisons at Cummins or Varner was the schools didn’t have fences with rolls of concertina wire on top.
The kid was there for over an hour, and only shot 24 teachers and kids. Why isn’t anybody questioning that? Why that classroom? Why those kids? Whose kids were they? Was this a cartel hit disguised as a mass shooting?
And once again we prove that “shelter in place” is a much worse strategy than “scatter and run” when there are no active defenders.
I agree. Shelter in place is as useless now as sitting under our desks in the case of a nuclear attack was then.
You also raise some good questions that I hadn’t thought about.
Very good questions I doubt we’ll get answers to.
Makes me suspect there was a lot more to the agenda than we’ve heard.
A few shootings ago, I told a friend with children that he ought to tell them to RUN LIKE HELL if the school tried to lock them in with a killer. He wouldn’t even consider it; the ‘authorities’ knew best, and he was more than willing to let his children be killed than to question authority.
Long ago, I decided anyone trying to confine me in a building with an “active shooter” was my immedicate enemy, and I was going around, over, or through them to exit.
I’m gonna talk to my family about that. Seems like a good idea to me. My grandson should have some idea about how to stay alive because he Didn’t obey,,I know what I would do, and standing in line to march into a room to wait to get shot Damn sure isn’t it.
Thank you for posting the names of the victims, and for the tenor of your missive. I truly appreciate your efforts.
This shooting was planned out in advance, and by his actions I believe the shooter trained for it. Just where and how, I have no ideas I’d like to share.
I think Pat Fowler may have nailed it. Geographically, the violent criminal would be able to work as a drug mule, and that would pay fairly well. Even so, I still don’t understand how he was able to afford the expense of two rifles and ammunition.
His mother is a drug addict. His father is estranged. All he really has is his grandmother, and he shot her in the face.
He is known to abuse animals in the past, particularly cats. He also cut himself in the face (self-hatred). Help for his poor mental health is not available, and he has no support group. There is, in this case, no circle of friends or family to tell him that he needs to see a shrink, a good one, and tell the shrink what’s going on with him.
Here’s the overwhelmingly important fact about psychologists and psychiatrists: Not all shrinks are created equal. Think in terms of neurosurgery. What you want is a surgeon who has performed neurosurgery for years and has a long list of success stories. That’s not what you’ll get, but that’s what you want. Your psychologist is the same way – how many people has he actually helped get from the couch back into society, and how are they doing?
There are a goodly number of people who can’t cope with modern society on a regular basis. About once a year or so they need a six week session with their psychologist of choice. They get a mental tune-up, and they are all set to deal with the everyday crap and chuck holes of our modern world. The shooter may have been one such person.
It’s also likely that this shooter was simply a bad person, such as Robert Jobe who murdered Detective Keith Dressel in Toledo, OH. Jobe was 14 years old at the time of the shooting, and according to mental health experts who spoke on condition of anonymity, You could hug this kid until your arms fell off, and it wouldn’t make a damned bit of difference. This one is finished. He’ll never be anything than what he already is – a stone cold killer.
The shooter is a sociopath, and the absolute best case scenario for a sociopath is that they will understand that the vast majority of people don’t think the same way they do, and they learn to conduct themselves accordingly. The best case scenario is rare.
The lunatic Left is behaving predictably. We’ll never know the whole story; we can only deal with the fallout.
The guy who broke into a contemplative convent here and raped and murdered an 80+ year old nun was one of those. Even as a kid, neighbors kept an eye on their pets and figured that he’d come to a bad end.
Real life observation , I have a friend who worked in juvenile … took teens out on sailboats to try and teach responsibility and teamwork.
His take on these kids was that some were beyond helping that they were a danger no matter where they were or who they were with …
He quit after less than a year ! Pat
I’m sorry that his best efforts didn’t yield results that encouraged him to continue. But I’m glad you posted that. I’ve wondered what would happen if someone really tried to change the thinking and affect the attitudes of the kids who were on a bad path. Not to say it Can’t work, but it looks like a more In Depth approach is needed. The only In Depth approach to directing our youth, the most hours a day, is school and TV. And those have become toxic to the ideas that would make a show like Leave it to Beaver look like a reasonable expression of what life Looks like to most people. I can’t imagine how a kid in Slumville Chicago, either forced to join a gang to survive, or move away, would see that show. It’s All screwed up.
It’s been tried. It doesn’t work. Most of these kids are irreparable. Baseline personality is fixed before most kids are 4 years old.
Not arguing, just responding, so you know I saw it and appreciate your time. I’ve never heard that, if true, that is pretty scary. Imagine adopting a broken five year old! EauxMuGaawd…
And not every kid is representative of the family they were raised in. I’ve seen young men who were raised by responsible parents, but the kid was an absolute devious, dangerous jakkass,, my daughter married one. I had the pos put in jail for stealing over five thousand dollars worth of silver..
Stuff just doesn’t work out like I would expect it to.
Fetal alcohol syndrome. Born to an alcoholic. Means they are born screwed up. (I suspect that a fair percentage of Russians fit this category.) Just one of the possible problems children may have. They seem to be inherently violent with this condition.
That kind of mental problem is a birth defect, like a cleft palate or a club foot. Except it can’t be corrected with surgery.
I would like to point out that the online gaming community has existed for nearly 30 years now and I doubt it has any more relevance to these types of shooters than the existence of AR15s does. The news industry has been feeding this monster for over 20 years and social media has only compounded the problem. I strongly suspect that these may have been funded under the guise of creating crime to bust much like when ATF was trying to track guns to the cartels .
++
First person shooting games no more create monsters than does D&D or kids playing cops & robbers.
If you let the public schools ‘raise’ children, a number of them will be massively screwed up.
Paddock and Craddock don’t fit the pattern of troubled youth, problems exacerbated by, and also protected from intervention by, a host of Democrat policies.
CRaddock had at one point functioned well enough to obtain a civil engineering degree, and pass the PE exam. He was working a civil service position, and had had behavioral issues for a while before his shooting spree.
Paddock was pretty clearly probably the anti-anxiety medication.
Preventing gun access, on paper, will do nothing so long as the judges and lawyers are colluding, willfully and knowingly, to inappropriately release violent felons.
And, law faculty have stupidly and fecklessly contributed to the appearance of being crooked, and increased the plausibility of industry/profession wide collusion.
There are a great many things that would need to be delivered first, before any concession on gun control could possibly be appropriate.
Forex, sealing of juvenile records.
The legal industry contributes to this issue. The ‘educational’ industry contributes to this issue. It would be as appropriate to bankrupt those enterprises by liability lawsuits, as it is anyone else.
This kid working at Wendy’s making minimum wage can go out and buy a 6000 dollar AR? I doubt it. This smells like a false flag set up by someone out to push for gun bans and confiscation. The Democrats and the news media have no concern for the children killed. They will find other people with a mental illness to recreate this same act. The People behind these acts are demon possessed and I believe so is our President. Just watch him when he is talking and goes off script. His mumbling and fumbling look like demon possession or mental illness.
I’ll throw my cracker in the soup.
Gov. Abbott should commission an independent investigation, led by somebody from outside Texas who will do a thorough, unbiased job. That should NOT be the FBI or any federal agency. Allow the investigators to take their time and do it right. Let the chips fall where they may.
Does that sound too simple?
See where Chucky S**thead has blocked legislation in progress to help make schools safer. Instead, he thinks now is the time for more “gun control”.
Damn shame our electeds aren’t reading what you folks are saying.
All- Thanks for the comments and y’all DO raise some interesting points I hadn’t thought about. LL- DEFINITELY agree with you on that. Texas Rangers will do a non-biased, but who will believe them??? Sigh…
All – please write to Sen McConnell and your senators and reps to demand they not bow down to the calls for more gun control – we do NOT need compromise, since it isn’t a compromise if gun owners don’t get any benefits out of it. We have to urge them to stand firm! Point out that they’ve got a great opportunity to regain the House and Senate but that will evaporate if they pass bad laws on guns.
Why the rear door propped open? 10 to 1 it’s because the teacher propping the door was a smoker. And 10 to 1 other teachers used the propped open door for a smoke break.
Minor chance it’s due to teachers using drugs or having an illicit moment.
I’ve seen security doors propped open and sensors futzed with so some idjit can get a smoke break (of one form or another) or to have some ‘fun’ time. At a prison, at a police department, at an airport in a secure area…
Never underestimate the stupidity of your fellow man. And never ever underestimate the stupidity of those in edumacation.
As to the police department? Charge everyone involved with the felony murder clause. Letting children call for help and sitting on their pendulous arses, letting children bleed out, using children as distractions.
Nothing short of accessory to murder is acceptable.
Cowards, liars, craven bastards all.
My only quibble is your claim that this is new; if you look at history, mass shootings have been a problem since colonial times.
They have actually decreased since the 80’s. The difference is that they get so much more coverage and focus now.
Jon- I was specifically talking about ones with ARs.
How to get guns, expensive ones, on a budget.
Google: shoot now pay later
The first 20 hits were names of companies I know
and specious credit programs.
Doors left open, list of reasons makes sense.
And blame the gun, it makes people go crazy
and kill. Really people believe that.
Eck!
I understand why some people cannot abide the idea of laws that will take away firearms, or prevent their purchase from an FFL, from a person who has committed no crime. We can all think of crazy ex-spouses, vindictive nut-case neighbors, and random anti-gunners, all of whom could get emotional satisfaction by reporting us. I had a soon-to-be ex-wife try to play that card on me.
Unfortunately, it’s exacerbated for some people who live in a community where the cops and judicial system are anti-gun, which means the system is compromised from the beginning.
No law is without risk. I’d like for the PEOPLE to be able to decide how to proceed, instead of the loudest screaming pros and antis.
That’s all I have to say about that.
Peace be on your household.
Nobody believes in evil anymore. Which is why evil is ascendant.
I believe in evil. It congregated in places like DC, Davis, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, etc. but can be found in lesser concentrations everywhere.
All- More good points. And yes Pat, the screaming wheel ‘usually’ gets the grease (or law) they want/need. Dammit…
It’s now being reported:
The teacher propped the door open.
Heard the shooting and “kicked the rock away and pulled the door shut (expecting it to lock.)”
I kinda call BS on that.
Most doors at schools are designed to ALWAYS be locked for being an entrance, but a push bar inside for emergency exit.
Does not pass the smell test.
At the middle school where I worked, there was a special key that would switch the door from unlocked to locked. That way, people could get in the morning & all day long, until the school day was over, and the maintenance guy came around and used the key to lock it down.
Some of the doors were as you described, but the main entrance doors to the school were unlocked during the school day.
Once there was a rumor that we were going to get attacked. They stationed MY happy self just inside the main entrance, because I had worked security at the Olympics. I put a couch lengthwise across the foyer to slow them down, if they came, which they didn’t.
After Columbine, someone committed the felony of daily concealed carry of a S&W Model 36; it was loaded at some point with five rounds of Winchester PDX1 with five more in a speed loader. In 2003ish, a Kel-Tec P3AT found it’s ONLY realistic use, loaded with Hydra Shoks. It’s small and flat, so pocket carry was easier to conceal. Once the initial school-day beginning was over, whichever pistol was in use was hidden in a bucket of metal drawer pulls.
That was some crazy BS. But someone thought that the forgiveness-easier-than-permission rule applied.
Some classroom door locks can be set to “unlocked.” I’m familiar with an argument between a sheriff (wanted doors locked at all times) and fire marshal (doors unlocked at all times for fire access.) The head of security basically said, “y’all fight it out and let me know who wins.” Yes, a compromise work-around was found, but it still happens.
Matthew- Interesting… Original report was teacher just ran back inside.
> What happened with the police ‘response’? Did they follow procedure or not?
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If it WAS “procedure”, some heads need to roll up in the bureaucratic ranks, too. Not that it’s likely to happen.
> As reported, apparently the BORTAC entry team had to get the master key from the custodian for the rooms. Why???
—
Apparently neither they nor the 9-member SWAT team had any door-breaching rounds for their shotguns on them or accessible in their vehicles.
TRX- Concur. However, there IS an issue with breaching rounds when there are ‘friendlies’ downrange. They do create spalling and send fragments into the area.
Late to the thread.
FPS games leading to deranged school shooters have about as much legitimacy as a Chick tract on the evils of Dungeons and Dragons.
Also, since when does law enforcement shirk from breaching a door? they LOVE no-knocks. All that kit and the fucking pussies won’t run towards the sound of kids getting shot up? Oh yeah, too busy detaining hysterical parents (while allegedly allowing officers to get THEIR kids out)…
Close with and destroy, goddamnit. Not form a perimeter and wait for the bad guy to run out of ammo or eat his own gun.
I apologize for the tone, but this is bullshit and blood is on their hands.
The Uvalde police initially responded to a possible car crash. They found another thing entirely. They then followed their training, pursued the killer to the classroom he was in. They attempted to open the outward opening steel door in a steel frame, but it was locked. Then they started receiving rounds through the door, wounding one, they could not return fire, blindly through the door. They pulled back to look for a key, leaving others to watch the door. The barber shotgun borrower started evacuating classrooms along with two officers. He evacuated among others, his wife and child, probably leading to the rumors police were selectively rescuing their own family members. He helped evacuate others as well. When a key was found a tact team was formed up and went in,and shot the killer. Don’t know whether a standdown was called by the ISD Chief or not, or his reasons if he did. Most of this came from the Daily Mail from an interview by a congressman of the first two responding officers. Nobody called anyone a coward, not did anyone deserve to be called that.
Speaking as a former soldier who has run to the sound of guns wearing nothing but a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops, the cops were cowards. They waited an hour and let kids die to protect themselves.
By the way, slugs work just fine on door latches. No key required. The chance of fragmentation injuring a friendly pales in comparison to the threat of the shooter.
I’m really tired of the argument that keeps staff from being armed, seeing the Logic is
But Teachers are not trained and Could Accidentally kill kids.
As IF they would be more dead because teach shot them accidentally than the bad guy did on purpose.
Friendly Fire, sadly, takes a toll in every war,but we don’t disarm them because it might happen.
The argument that If schools are made secure, the bad guys will just choose a softer target..
Seriously? Willing to sacrifice children so they won’t go elsewhere? Looks like time to get rid of window bars and reinforced doors, because if you harden Your house, now the bad guy goes to your neighbor. Now YOU are a bad guy too.
Take the AR away, the same geniuses who understand that if the schools are no longer good targets, they will go elsewhere. Somehow they fail to grasp, remove the AR,they will use something else.
Always wrong, never in doubt. Lefties