DAVE ROSS

After another mass shooting, will the status quo survive?

Feb 19, 2018, 7:06 AM | Updated: 7:07 am

shooting, ar-15...

Alessandra Mondolfi holds a sign against AR-15 weapons as she yells, "No More" during a protest against guns on the steps of the Broward County Federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

The students and teachers who packed that rally in Parkland, Florida over the weekend weren’t just sad, they were angry.

But where should they direct that anger?

  • At the family who took in Nikolas Cruz, hoping to help him. But who let him keep his guns?
  • The gun dealer who sold him the AR-15 legally a year ago – having no idea it would be used in a massacre?
  • The FBI for failing to follow up on a tip that Nikolas Cruz owned guns, and was acting erratically?

Or do you get angry at the status quo which allows anybody who’s old enough and can pass a cursory background check to buy a military weapon. Technically, of course, it’s only military “style” weapon. But that’s starting to feel like a meaningless distinction lately.

I think that gun owners who like the status quo are going to find themselves confronted more and more by people who have experienced the status quo-first hand — like those students in Parkland who saw more hostile gunfire in those five minutes than most soldiers see in their careers.

I occurs to me – in a few weeks we may soon have ICE agents going door-to-door in the name of public safety, deporting unarmed DACA residents, with no criminal records.

Perhaps their time would be better spent helping the FBI check out some of those tips.

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After another mass shooting, will the status quo survive?