Tag Archives: gun violence

crime news

Shooter’s parents get slammer time

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James and Jennifer Crumbley are headed to the big house after a Michigan judge today imposed a 10- to 15-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter.

The Crumbleys, though, are fairly unique in this regard: their son took a gun out of their house and killed four high school students. The son is serving a life term in prison after he pleaded guilty to the crime. The shooting took place at Oxford High School, about 40 miles from Detroit, Mich.

I watched on TV several parents of the victims of the shooting urge the judge to impose a maximum sentence allowed for the crime charged.

“These convictions were not about poor parenting,” said Judge Cheryl Matthews. “These convictions convey repeated acts or lack of acts that could have halted an oncoming runaway train.”

Parents of Michigan School Shooter Ethan Crumbley Sentenced to 10-15 Years in Prison (msn.com)

I get what the judge is saying. The Crumbleys no doubt love their son, but their inattention to what they might have seen in him contributed to the horrific crime that took the lives of four young people and inflicted permanent damage on the hearts of their loved ones.

The sentence is an appropriate punishment.

crime news

DOJ report: Police failed miserably in Uvalde

Words fail me at this moment as I ponder the release of a nearly 600-page report chronicling the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland told the world Thursday of a systematic failure — from top to bottom — of the police response to the massacre of 19 children and two educators.

For 77 interminable minutes the cops did nothing while an 18-year-old lunatic was holed up in the school … and murdering children and the teachers who sought to protect them.

State troopers were present, along with Uvalde municipal cops, officers of the Uvalde school district, sheriff’s deputies. They were leaderless. They received no instruction to storm the school and take the shooter out.

The officers sat on their hands and allowed the carnage to continue.

I have no words of wisdom to offer. I cannot think of a way to prevent this sort of tragedy from recurring.

All I know is that the men and women who suit up as “leaders” failed to perform the essential tenet of leadership. They failed to issue orders to storm the school and do whatever it took to “neutralize” the moron who had purchased legally an AR-15 rifle and then used it to take the lives of innocent and precious children.

AG Garland took specific note that the AR-15 is intended for “the battlefield.” Its purpose is to kill people as quickly as people. It does not belong in the possession of individuals — such as the Uvalde madman — who then can rein havoc and mayhem on defenseless children.

How do we stop this madness? I have no clue on how one can do so while navigating the rough political water that so far has prevented any meaningful laws to curb such senseless violence.

Were I the King of the World, I might ponder whether there’s a way to amend the Second Amendment, the one that gun-rights advocates use as their political shield against solutions to the gun violence plague.

But I’m not. I am left only to gasp in horror at the findings of the Department of Justice and share the attorney general’s grief over the senselessness of the slaughter that no doubt will continue.

 

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Another tragedy unfolds

You won’t read “thoughts and prayers” for the loved ones of the latest mass shooting coming from this blogger.

Indeed, the expression almost has become as much a cliche as “sorry for your loss ” and “at the end of the day.”

No, instead I am going to offer my expression of utter disgust that even after the moron opened fire in Lewiston, Maine — killing at least 20 people — we likely still won’t get any legislation that seeks to end this kind of senseless slaughter.

Barack Obama once declared that “the worst day of my presidency” was when he learned of the mass killings of those second-graders and their teachers in Newtown, Conn. He pushed Congress to act, imploring them to act in the cause of preventing other such massacres.

It didn’t work. Congress did nothing but offer “thoughts and prayers.” Uvalde came along and there have been many others since the Sandy Hook tragedy of 2012.

Now this.

We are represented in Congress by cowards.

education news

A sign of the times … eek!

If ever there was a sign that exemplified the era in which we live, it well might be this one, a picture of which I snapped at Lovelady High School in Princeton, Texas.

I am 73 years of age and the message on this sign — about armed security personnel using “whatever force necessary” to protect teachers, students and staff at Princeton Independent School District — is one I never envisioned seeing when I was coming of age.

Or, for that matter, when my sons were coming of age in Beaumont, Texas.

The spasm of gun violence in schools has prompted Princeton ISD to hire armed guards at all its campuses. The security personnel all are firearms-trained; some are retired police officers. Farmersville ISD, just seven miles east of Princeton, has a full-time police force with Texas-certified police officers on duty on its campuses.

This is what we have come to in this country. We must warn visitors to our schools that armed guards are on duty and will do whatever it takes to protect human life against loons with guns.

Amazing … simply amazing.

You want a sign of these troubled times? There it is, folks.

crime news, local news

This cop is a true hero

The Allen Police Department has released a body-cam video of the tragedy that stunned the nation at the Allen Premium Outlet Mall a few weeks ago.

I watched it last night at the start of the 10 p.m. newscast and was, to put it bluntly, blown away by the heroism that unfolded in the span of about five minutes.

The officer is heard talking to a young woman and her daughter when shots rang out. He instructed them to seek shelter. Then he took off running … toward the gunshots.

He shouted at bystanders to “get out of there!” and kept running. You can hear the sound of gunfire on the video. Then the officer saw the lunatic and fired his weapon, killing him instantly.

He told police headquarters that he believed the shooter was down — and was dead — adding that he didn’t “hear any more gunfire.”

I watched the video and then tried to catch my breath. This is what effective police work looks like.

Of course, the officer couldn’t get to the shooter in time to stop the carnage that took eight lives that day. A Collin County grand jury cleared the officer of any wrongdoing; the grand jury heard the case as a standard practice.

The Allen PD officer doesn’t want his name released. He chooses to keep his ID a secret and no one on Earth could possibly dispute his decision.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank him publicly for demonstrating absolute and unqualified heroism.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Shut up … Elon!

Elon Musk needs to stick to making lots of money, manufacturing cars, shooting rockets into space and whatever else he’s “expert” at doing.

For the zillionaire to suggest that allegations that the Allen Premium Outlet Mall shooter was not motivated by white supremacist attitudes means he is getting way ahead of himself and the investigation.

Musk refers to a website that “no one follows” that is being offered as evidence of these views. He calls it “bullsh**.”

I must mention the Nazi tattoos they found on the moron’s body after the Allen police officer shot him to death. I agree that the probe is ongoing. To say it’s all BS, though, is to draw conclusions that no one is able yet to draw.

I would bet real American money that when all is done the authorities are going to find nefarious motives — such as white supremacy — as lurking behind the madman’s motives.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

local news

Quick solution? By all means!

“People want a quick solution. The long-term solution here is to address the mental health issue.”

So said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott when a Fox Propaganda Network interviewer asked him about public opinion surveys indicating widespread support for legislative action in the wake of the Allen mall massacre that killed eight victims.

Yes, we want a “quick solution.” We are entitled to demand quick action. As for the mental health matter, which Abbott favors, we can work on that too.

So, here’s an idea: How about instituting a ban on AR-15 rifle purchases while working forthrightly on the mental health issues that drive madmen such as the Allen mall lunatic to kill innocent victims?

There must be a “quick solution” provided by government. Will it prevent all future acts of insanity from occurring? Probably not, but the public is demanding our government to take decisive action.

This is what we elect our leaders to do!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

It’s time for politics

The massacre at the Allen Premium Outlet Mall has produced the usual mantra from politicians and others who want to ignore the issue of “gun regulation.”

They are telling us that “this is no time for politics.” Excuse me? It is past time for politics.

They purport to be speaking for grieving families in shock over the assault on their lives by a lunatic who opened fire with an AR-15 rifle. It was the 199th mass shooting in the country this year … on the 128th day of the year!

At issue is how to control the purchase of firearms and keeping them out of the hands of loons such as the moron who opened fire in Allen. That is purely a political solution.

It starts with enacting legislation that is faithful to the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. Is there a solution out there? I believe there is. Does a ban on weapons designed to kill people on the battlefield violate the amendment’s guarantee that we can “keep and bear arms”? No, it does nothing of the sort!

What about universal background checks that could flag individuals with histories of mental instability? The Allen mall shooter was discharged from the Army in 2008 because of “mental issues.” Yet he still owned an AR-15. Is it OK to wonder if a background check could have kept the gun out of his hands were he to seek to purchase it? What’s more, how does that violate the rights of anyone with zero such issues? It doesn’t!

I am weary of the refrain in the wake of these tragedies that “this is no time for politics.” These solutions reside in the halls of government, where politicians roam and where they — if they ever grow a spine — could enact laws that make us safer.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

Rep. Self disgraces himself

Keith Self has taken no time at all during his first term in Congress to demonstrate a level of boorishness that astounds many millions of us.

Self, a Republican House member whose congressional district represents Allen, Texas — the scene this past weekend of the latest mass shooting — decided to declare that those who question whether “thoughts and prayers” are insufficient in deterring these acts of madness “don’t believe in an almighty God.”

“Well,” Self said in a now viral video, “those are people that don’t believe in an almighty God who has, who is absolutely in control of our lives. I’m a Christian, I believe that he is. We have people though, with mental health [issues] that we’re not taking care of.”

Rep. Self, I, too, am a Christian. I also believe in God’s infinite power. I also believe that human beings do things that are out of the Almighty’s control.

For this guy to say that everyone who wants legislative action to deter future acts of madness don’t believe as he does is demagoguery at its worst.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

crime news

These issues aren’t mutually exclusive

Let’s try to comprehend what I believe is a simple proposition, which is that fighting mental health issues and seeking to legislate meaningful laws restricting gun ownership are not mutually exclusive.

I touched on that in an earlier blog post in the wake of the shooting rampage in Allen, Texas, this past weekend; eight people were shot to death before an Allen police officer killed the loon who opened fire with an AR-15.

I salute the officer’s swift response. I also want to offer a comment on “competing” solutions being offered by leading politicians.

One of them, Democratic President Biden wants Congress to ban AR-15s outright; he wants Congress to enact universal background checks on those seeking to buy a firearm; and he wants Congress to increase the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years.

Is the president dismissing the need to deal forthrightly with mental health concerns? Of course not!

The other is Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott who wants to concentrate on mental health research while shoving gun control proposals to the back burner.

Is the governor saying “hell no!” to any legislation? I didn’t hear him say that.

Let me state once more: These two approaches can be handled simultaneously. We need not ignore one while working exclusively on the other.

The issue continues, in my mind at least, to be the easy access to guns. The Allen mall shooter reportedly was discharged from the Army because of “mental health issues.” Why, then, was he allowed to reportedly own an AR-15, a high-capacity semi-automatic rifle capable of killing a lot of human beings in a matter of seconds?

If you have seen an AR-15 up close you might need to know that the weapon is eerily similar to an M-16, the rifle we were issued when we reported for duty in Vietnam. They are weapons of war.

Furthermore, there is nothing in President Biden’s priority list that contradicts the Second Amendment’s guarantee for citizens to “keep and bear arms.” He just wants to be sure that those of us who obey the law and who aren’t pre-disposed to harming other human beings don’t have access to these weapons.

What in the name of humanity is wrong with that?

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com