Short Takes – Just Another Shooting?

Opinion

The multiple murders at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida was absolutely preventable! Yet, the organizations capable of preventing it, did not, could not, or would not, for whatever reasons, take action against a known potential danger because of the fear of social backlash from one group or another because it would interfere with their agendas.

The shooter, by all appearances a mentally disturbed young man, had a developing history of violence in school. He was even forbidden, individually, from bringing a backpack to school. Were school officials afraid he might put a weapon in his backpack? Probably!  And then ultimately, because of his anti-social, erratic behavior and explosive temper, he was kicked out of school to become somebody else’s problem. The school, and the school district had no more interest in what became of this young man.

Red flags were everywhere. He was an orphan. Both his parents had died within the last two years or so and he ended up living with another group of young men his own age, unsupervised and by all accounts, collecting his wrath like a gathering storm until the hate that was festering so deep within his bosom was finally released on his former school mates.

Immediately, Democrats and gun grabbers fashioned this as a “gun violence” issue. Nonsense, It was a violence issue, by a recognized mentally unstable youth, possibly drug induced, with a gun who directed his hatred at the very school that kicked him out. His passion expended, he left in his wake a trail of more mental problems, shock, despair, disbelief, all the traits found in soldiers suffering the effects of PTSD, “shell shock.”

This boy, Nikolas Cruz announced his intentions as far back as September 2017. He went on record as wanting to be a school shooter when he posted a YouTube video to that effect. The video, recorded by a Mississippi man was immediately passed on to the FBI with a screen shot, and it was short and alarming:  “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.”  

Almost immediately, on 25 Sept. 17, law enforcement agents in Mississippi contacted the viewer to determine if he knew Nikolas Cruz or if the threat came from a Mississippi resident. He didn’t and It didn’t! That represents the first and only positive effort by any agency to have tried to thwart Nikolas Cruz. Where was the ball dropped? Who dropped it and why?

So, what happened? The FBI, apparently alerted agents in Mississippi who responded, but then what? Did the FBI follow up? Was Cruz identified as a Florida resident? Was the Broward Co. Sheriffs Office alerted at any point? If so, did some staff Intelligence collector set the FBI’s report off to the side for later action?   

“FBI agents did contact the Mississippi man again, after the shootings, to ask if he knew Cruz. He didn’t. That’s a clue to the failure of bureaucracy and trusting in an over worked government to be able to take quick effective action.

Raw intelligence, like the Mississippi man provided, is fungible. Expressions of violence posted on social media sites require emergency action. Federal agencies, like the FBI, are fixated on Islamic Terrorism, yet there are other sources of raw intelligence immediately available that would also have revealed Nikolas Cruz, his fellow students. Post shooting interviews of some students, who knew him, said they were not at all surprised at what he did.

Generally, children in high schools won’t talk voluntarily to the schools resource officer and report on their school mates, but many may actually post a “Secret Witness Note” in a box provided for that purpose. Even a “Secret Witness” social web site could be created but, whatever, these disturbed young people must be identified early and treated.

Laws must be effected that permits such reports so long as they remain constitutional. But, nothing will assuage the heart-breaking questions the families of those seventeen people killed by Nikolas Cruz can answer. The threat was there, the threat was known if not suspected and the ball was dropped. Whose is going to answer for that?

Finally, a word about the unmentioned contributor to the problem, the mind control drug industry that keeps boisterous youth drugged with prescribed mind altering drugs that forces their quite compliance so school administrators are not bothered by boys being boys.

The perpetrators of every single school shooting from Columbine in Colorado to Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, including the church murders in Charleston, SC, were by young men who had been diagnosed by school authorities with behavioral problems correctable by mind altering drugs.

“According to a study published in the journal PLoS One and based on the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System, the following mind-altering drugs are most frequently linked to violence:

Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq) is an antidepressant associated with 7.9 times more violence than many other drugs.

Venlafaxine (Effexor) is related to Pristiq and is an antidepressant also used in treating those with anxiety disorders. Effexor is 8.3 times more associated with violent behavior than other drugs.

Fluvoxamine (Luvox) is an antidepressant that affects serotonin (SSRI), and is 8.4 times more likely to be linked to violence than other medications

Triazolam (Halcion) can be addictive and is a benzodiazepine that supposedly treats insomnia. It’s 8.7 times more likely to be associated with violence than other medications.

Atomoxetine (Strattera) is often prescribed to tread ADHD and is 9 times more likely to be associated with violence.

Mefoquine (Lariam) treats malaria and sometimes products bizarre behavior, and is 9.5 times more likely to be linked to violence.

Amphetamines come in many forms and are often used to treat ADHD (even to children not diagnosed with ADHD). They are 9.6 times more likely to be linked to violence.

Paroxetine (Paxil) is an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) antidepressant. Many users experience severe withdrawal symptoms and are more likely to produce children with birth defects as well as 10.3 times more likely to be linked to violence than other medications.

Fluoxetine (Prozac) is a household name for a powerful SSRI antidepressant linked with 10.9 times more violence than other drugs.

Varenicline (Chantix)  s administered to smokers to supposedly help curb cigarette cravings, but it’s a whopping 18 times more likely to be linked to violent behavior than other drugs.

The website SSRIstories.org  has a collection of more than 6,000 stories from various media documenting the link between violent incidents and mind-altering drugs.  

This list from is found at SSRIstories.org.” Frightening, isn’t it, what schools are doing to our children. 

Remember, freedom is the goal, the Constitution is the way. Now, go get ‘em?

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to Top