This morning some families are having to bury their children, some as young as high school freshman, after last week’s school shooting in Florida. But the memorial services and funerals hadn’t even started before the media and many politicians turned this awful incident into political talking points for their respective anti-Second Amendment agendas.
These ten points are things we should (and shouldn’t) do immediately after a horrific attack, and should keep in mind in the days and weeks following.
1. Don’t interview the families of the victims
It’s beyond tacky and sick and sad. It’s preying on someone in the worst moments they will ever experience and is often used by the media and politicians (on both sides) to push a political narrative for their token issue. This should never be done after a tragedy. Let the victims’ families and friends process, let them grieve, let them not talk about politics for one damn minute.
2. Don’t ask victims’ families about public policy
If they want to get involved in the future, they will. Don’t ask them about it when bodies are still lying in the morgue and funerals are being planned. Their emotions are understandably high, facts are still coming in, and their perspectives could and probably will change as years go by. It’s a low move to tout these poor victims as experts, or to use their tears as a veto on reasoned public discourse.
3. Don’t listen to teenagers about policy
This one applies to every political issue all the time. Children and teenagers have next to no valuable insight when it comes to public policy. That’s why we don’t let them vote. Sure, there are organizations and youth out there who are interested and passionate about politics, and they can be involved, but they’re not the arbiters of what we should do as a nation. These young people just experienced a horrific and traumatic event, and have probably not yet talked to a professional counselor or therapist. But the mainstream media and politicians use their words to promote political policy. This is bad.
4. Don’t believe Everytown for Gun Safety.
They lie. Proof: Their “18 school shootings in 2018” is more fiction than fact. They are also very, very partisan. For all their “follow the money” attacks on the NRA, they are secretive about their own lobbying ($1.2 million in 2017 to lobbying firms), have a budget of $41 million, massive PR efforts with celebrities like Beyonce Knowles, and the financial backing of billionaire Mike Bloomberg.
5. Don’t forget Chicago.
School-aged children die almost daily in Chicago. Why are Democrats mysteriously silent on this? Maybe because the victims are black kids in neighborhoods run by gangs. Or maybe because they don’t want to address that Chicago already has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation?
6. Gun control doesn’t work
As Sen. Tim Scott has repeatedly said, states with the most gun regulations experience the worst shootings. Sen. Marco Rubio was proven right when he said in 2016 that no current gun control laws on the books could have or would have prevented recent mass shootings. Even The Washington Post fact checked this as “true.” We consistently hear from the gun control crowd that we need “common sense” gun control. Well, in many states we see what might be considered beyond common sense legislation and it hasn’t worked.
7. Have armed guards at public schools
As The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh wrote, “Why are so many government buildings protected except the schools where our most precious people preside for 8 hours a day?”
Here’s a thought: employ veterans as armed security guards at public schools after they go through thorough background checks, psychological evaluations, and appropriate training. In many parts of the country, as in my home state of Oklahoma, you could hire an individual veteran for $50,000 per year. In Oklahoma, that’s a good standard of living. If there are schools that can’t afford this, and parents are unwilling to foot the bill, then . . .
8. Arm the teachers
Time and time again we see amazing teachers sacrifice their lives for their students. Why not allow willing teachers to arm themselves so they could protect their students and maybe not have to give their own lives? During last week’s shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Coach Aaron Feis was one of these men. A student of his says he believes if Feis could have carried a firearm on campus, he would have. I’ve argued before that if you don’t trust your kid’s teacher to protect them with a gun, then you shouldn’t entrust them to your child at all.
9. Fix the FBI
Many things run better lean and mean. We now know that the FBI received a detailed and credible tip about the shooter’s disturbing behavior and did nothing. Proper protocol was not followed. The FBI office in Miami was not informed. There was no follow-up. This. Is. Awful. The FBI, and many other government agencies are overrun with political bureaucrats who are used to glad-handing and pushing paper. It needs to change. We need to weed out the bad, keep the good, and make sure they are fully focused on protecting our nation, especially our nation’s children.
10. Stop the “media contagion”
As of today, The Daily Wire will no longer name mass shooters or show their images on our site. Our Editor-in-Chief, Ben Shapiro, explained why here. We won’t — and the rest of the media should not — participate in inflating the infamy of these evil losers.