On Sunday, appearing on Fox News with Leland Vittert , Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Kyle Kashuv took an entirely different tack from his fellow students who have appeared throughout the media to attack the NRA and gun rights advocates, instead targeting Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and people who have used the Florida high school tragedy to attack gun rights supporters. Kashuv bluntly said Israel was “virtue-signaling” in his appearance on last Wednesday’s CNN townhall and should resign.
Vittert started by playing a video of Florida Governor Rick Scott, who stated that he advocated stricter gun laws for those with mental illness and those who threaten others or themselves while Scott also championed strengthening security at schools.
Vittert then turned to Kashuv, pointing out that some of Kashuv’s fellow students had criticized Scott’s remarks as being inadequate in addressing the situation. Vittert asked about Scott’s remarks, “Are they enough for you?”
Kashuv answered, “I think they’re definitely enough and I think that they’re going out of their way to make sure that this will never happen again. I think that clearly mental health restrictions to make sure you have to be mentally stable to acquire a weapon, deeper background checks, and raising the age from 18 to 21 as well as hardening schools will definitely make sure that this will never happen again.”
Vittert asked what Kashuv thought of fellow students who called for harsher restrictions, including banning assault rifles.
Kashuv replied:
Look, I know these kids on a personal level. I’ve talked to them personally. It concerns me a bit because right now this is a bipartisan issue for mental health restrictions and reform, and they’re taking it a step further and I’ve talked to them personally and many of them would like a complete ban on all weapons, if possible. You can clearly see that slowly, sadly, the agenda is switching from “never again” to trying to ban weapons, and that’s somewhat deeply concerning because I really want to make sure this will never happen again but still I support the Second Amendment.
Vittert pointed out the questions that had been raised about the Broward County Sheriff’s Department, that they did not respond properly to the attack and that they ignored numerous red flags about the shooter. Vittert asked, “Is that where the conversation should be?”
Kashuv then expressed his indignation over the perspective espoused by gun control activists with regard to the tragedy:
That is definitely where the conversation should be and it absolutely outrages me that on the CNN town hall, we had the sheriff who was virtue signaling against the NRA and against guns when he didn’t even act properly. The armed officer at school waited outside and then him, the sheriff and his men for four minutes let my classmates die while he sat outside and waited. He didn’t even do his job properly and then comes around and turns around saying guns are the issue when he had failed to act properly.
Vittert pointed out that Israel knew when he attended the CNN town hall that his deputy had waited outside the school but didn’t disclose that piece of information. Vittert said Israel was refusing to resign and had professed that he had displayed amazing leadership. He asked, “Do you agree with that?”
Kashuv reacted, “No, not at all. I think he absolutely needs to resign after what happened here. He failed to act on so many different levels. And him, himself, he’s responsible for this massive failure. This could have been easily stopped, both by the FBI and the Sheriff’s Department had they acted.”
Vittert played a clip of student David Hogg saying, “Obviously there were some major mistakes here and ones that we have to look into, and I don’t want to say anything until after the investigation’s done.” Vittert pointed out that Hogg claimed he would wait for the investigation to conclude before making comments, yet had harshly criticized the NRA and other gun rights advocates. Vittert asked, “Your thoughts?”
Kashuv: “I think that’s outrageous. I mean I call B.S. on this situation right now. It’s clear to see that on so many different levels, the Parkland government and officers, they failed to act and they let us down. And they should have acted on multiple different times to make sure this would never happen.”
Vittard asked how the high school would heal after the tragedy.
Kashuv concluded, “Look, at the end of the day, we’re all one big family. We’ve seen the amazing support from all different kinds, every single person. We’re one big family; at the end of the day we’re all linked. Taking away our opinions on gun rights, we never want this is happen again. We’re all helping each other out and I think at school on Wednesday, we’re going to see that in play.”
Video below: