Merry Christmas From the Heartland

 

Looks Like the GOP Didn't Get the Boogeyman It Wanted

It was straight out of the MAGA world’s greatest fantasy—a report that painted the Charlie Kirk assassin as an amalgamation of the right’s biggest boogeymen.  A Wall Street Journal update (which has since been rewritten) originally read: “Investigators found ammunition engraved with expressions of transgender and antifascist ideology inside the rifle that authorities believe was used in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, according to an internal law enforcement bulletin and a person familiar with the investigation.”

It didn’t take long for the inevitable walk-back.   “A senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation cautioned that the report had not been verified by ATF analysts, did not match other summaries of the evidence and might turn out to have been misread or misinterpreted,” reported The New York Times.    

That WSJ blurb was quickly rewritten with more caution—but it was too late. The damage was done.

Gun Industry Group Caught Violating Privacy Rights of Gun Owners

 ProPublica has published an investigation of a  “covert program” in which firearms manufacturers for years shared sensitive customer information with political operatives. The secret program was conducted while the gun industry presented itself as a privacy protector and fought against government and corporate efforts to track firearms ownership.

At least 10 gun industry businesses, including Glock, Smith & Wesson and Remington, handed over hundreds of thousands of names, addresses and other private data — without customer knowledge or consent — to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which then entered the details into what would become a massive database. The database was used to rally gun owners’ electoral support for the industry’s candidates running for the White House and Congress.

The customer information initially came from decades of warranty cards filled out and returned to gun manufacturers for rebates and repair or replacement programs. A ProPublica review of dozens of warranty cards from the 1970s through today found that some promised customers their information would be kept strictly confidential. Others said some information could be shared with third parties for marketing and sales. None of the cards informed buyers their details would be used by lobbyists and consultants to win elections.

Violating a promise of strict confidentiality on warranty cards or failing to mention that consumer information could be given to the NSSF may qualify as a deceptive practice under the Federal Trade Commission Act, privacy and legal experts said.

Handguns for the Holidays

Two teenage brothers have been arrested after their sister was shot and died during a row over Christmas presents.  Abrielle Baldwin, 23, was shot in the chest by one brother while she had her 10-month-old son in a carrier, the Florida sheriff's office said.

The brother was then shot by their other sibling, who pulled his own gun.  The shooting followed an argument over who was getting more presents.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told reporters the older teenager, who is 15, ran from the scene and tossed his gun away.  The younger brother, a 14-year-old, was taken to hospital in a stable condition and will be taken into custody when he is released.

Local prosecutors will review the case and decide whether to charge him as an adult for the killing of his sister.  The woman was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Sheriff Gualtieri said.

He explained the mother-of-two suffered internal bleeding and was unable to breathe - but he added the baby in the carrier was not harmed. The 15-year-old was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.

 

GOP in Favor of Giving Mentally Ill Veterans an Easier Path to Suicide

The Senate approved a measure that would make it easier for veterans with mental issues to get a gun, brushing aside objections from most Democrats and the Department of Veterans Affairs that doing so could hinder suicide prevention efforts. The vote came hours before at least 18 people were killed in a mass shooting in Maine, where authorities have identified an Army reservist as a person of interest.

The legislation would prohibit the VA from reporting veterans who are found incapable of managing their own finances to the FBI's national background check database without first getting a judge's consent. The Senate passed the measure by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., in a 53-45 vote Wednesday afternoon.

The VA reports the names of veterans who are deemed mentally incompetent to a national criminal background check database used during the purchase of firearms, but the practice has drawn criticism from gun rights advocates in Congress. 

GOP Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee Mike Bost said one of his top priorities was to pass a bill to bar the VA from reporting someone to NICS solely on the basis that they were appointed a fiduciary -- without a judge's order saying the veteran is a danger to themselves and others.

The VA, though, has firmly opposed the bill, pointing to statistics that show a correlation between suicidal ideation and financial issues, and that show suicide attempts involving firearms are more lethal than other methods.

The program at issue "protects some of our most vulnerable veterans, and we do believe that taking firearms away -- not us, but the process -- does protect our veterans," Ron Burke, the VA's deputy under secretary for policy and oversight, testified at a House hearing earlier this year. "Preventing veterans suicide is the No. 1 clinical focus for VA, and we believe that the process works."

 

Florida Nutjob Shoots His Neighbor For Trimming a Tree

A Florida man fatally shot a neighbor who was trimming trees along a property line the two men shared, police said. Edward Druzolowski, 78, was arrested Sunday after he allegedly fired a single fatal shot at his neighbor, 48-year-old Brian Ford, who was outside trimming trees along their property line in DeLeon Springs.

The Volusia County sheriff’s office said that Druzolowski confronted Ford about being on his property before the fatal shooting.  “Druzolowski told detectives he threatened to shoot Ford, and when Ford didn’t leave, he shot him,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Ford was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was the latest in a long line of shootings this year by angry homeowners who have opened fire on people who accidentally crossed over their property line. In Florida alone, police have responded to multiple reports of threats and shootings by homeowners.

In June, a Florida man fired 30 rounds at his pool cleaner after he mistook the cleaner for an intruder. The shooter wasn’t charged thanks to Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which allows homeowners to fire on someone they believe to be a threat.

A 78-year-old with osteoporosis, Druzolowski told detectives he brought the gun for protection because he feared what being shoved to the ground would do to his body. Druzolowski’s wife told detectives her husband only meant to “scare” Ford. Druzolowski has been charged with second-degree murder and is being held without bond.

National experts said some owners of firearms in the United States, with its prevalent gun culture, struggle to make split-second decisions that don’t end in death because the shooters are riddled with fear or paranoia, or lack understanding of their legal protections. Many Americans are afraid of each other, and fear mixed with guns can often lead to needless death, they say.

Florida, the nation’s third-most populated state, has earned the nickname “Gunshine State” — state data shows there is one gun permit for every eight Floridians. Legislators approved a bill in March allowing people to carry concealed firearms without a permit or proof of training, often dubbed “constitutional carry.” 

 

Unarmed Pedestsrian Was Shot Dead Because a Car Driver was "Afraid" of Him

A Washington state man was fatally shot outside of his home by a “scared” driver after he slowed down traffic to help deer pass. 37-year-old Dan Spaeth was standing outside his home in Snohomish County on Sept. 7 with his wife to alert passing drivers that deer were crossing the road, according to an affidavit of probable cause first obtained by The Seattle Times.

Just before 8 p.m., Spaeth’s wife called 911 to report her husband had been shot a single time by someone in a passing vehicle. His wife said the two were on their property when she heard a loud “pop” and turned to see her husband lying in the road with a gunshot wound to his chest, according to the affidavit. Spaeth died at the scene.

The next day, on Sept. 8, officers with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office arrested 22-year-old Dylan Picard in connection to the shooting, The Washington Post reported Friday. When a sergeant asked if Picard knew why he was being arrested, Picard allegedly told the officer, “I shot somebody.”  Picard later told investigators he saw Spaeth yell at a passing vehicle and hit the car with his hands. Picard became “scared” and grabbed his loaded gun, according to the affidavit. Picard then fired one shot out of his open passenger window to “scare the male and female” but did not know he had hit someone. He has been charged with second-degree murder.

It’s the latest senseless shooting in the U.S. by individuals reacting with gun violence to otherwise harmless situations. In April, two cheerleaders in Texas were shot after one of them accidentally entered the wrong car. In May, a 14-year-old girl in Louisiana was shot by a man after she was playing hide-and-seek on his property. In August, a 9-year-old girl riding her scooter in Chicago was shot by a man who later told police he was upset over noise.  And the list goes on.

 

Texas Governor Doesn't Want to Focus on Gun Deaths

On Monday’s edition of “Morning Joe,” host Joe Scarborough delivered a stinging commentary, calling out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s “inhumane” comments after yet another mass shooting over the weekend. Scarborough pulled no punches, citing gun death statistics and our country’s grotesque child mortality rates. “Our little children are being slaughtered. And Greg Abbott has nothing to say about it. He just wants to change the subject.”

Scarborough torched Abbot for his reprehensible comments about the victims of an Ohio mass shooting, saying the Texas Governor was “cynically and cruelly focused on the immigration status of these poor people, and that little boy that were slaughtered…. Just inhumane."

The MSNBC host saved his most sobering indictment of Abbott until the end, saying, “There is a sickness in the state of Texas. And that sickness starts at the very top with Greg Abbott—who refuses to protect little children in the state of Texas. Whether it's at school or whether it's his church or whether it's at shopping malls or even inside their own homes.”

Today’s Republican party has a sickness and complete lack of humanity, something far too many Republican voters much too readily accept.

Nashville Gun Culture

This is the Christmas card sent out last year from Congressman Andy Ogles-- the gun nut that represents the district in which the Nashville school shooting happened. 

Brazil Has a Chance to Turn the Page Against Violence

In August last year, Brazilian farmer Reinaldo Huijsmans reported a break-in at his house in the town of Maracaju, where thieves stole six legally registered weapons, including a T4 Taurus assault rifle.  39-year-old Huijsmans is one of hundreds of thousands of Brazilians now registered to own guns, a group whose ranks have surged six-fold since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 and began loosening gun laws.

Two months later, Huijsmans' T4 turned up 800 miles away in the hands of a heavily-armed gang of alleged bank robbers ambushed and killed by cops near the city of Varginha, in Minas Gerais state.  Its presence in the hands of a group of alleged bank thieves highlights what Federal Police and public security experts say is an inevitable consequence of Bolsonaro's gun liberalizations: the criminal use of Brazil's fast-growing stock of legal weapons.

The men holed up in Varginha were part of a new breed of bank robbers conducting a wave of high-impact assaults across the interior of the country, police say. Known locally as "novo cangaco" gangs, these specialized crews terrorize cities, blow up bank safes and use human shields to escape, often stealing millions of dollars.  Named after "cangaceiros," the ragtag bandits who roamed the arid northeast in the late 19th century, Brazil's "novo cangaco" gangs have benefited from Bolsonaro's looser gun laws, according to police probes and interviews with officers involved in gun control and organized crime investigations.

Bolsonaro, a nationalist former soldier, has made it easier for Brazilians to bulk-buy firearms by registering with the army as hunters, marksmen or collectors, known as "CACs." With his encouragement, nearly 700,000 Brazilians have now accredited as CACs, up almost 500% since 2018.  Brazil's Federal Police disapproved of Bolsonaro's gun policies, arguing they would put more weapons in the hands of criminals.  "We constantly have issues with weapons bought by people with CAC permits," said one senior Federal Police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the politically sensitive subject. "Sadly, we're going to have problems with this for decades."

Of all the weapons now available to Brazil's gun fans, the T4 has emerged as the weapon of choice for its gangsters.  Manufactured by Brazilian gunmaker Taurus SA, the T4 hit the local market in 2019 as a direct result of Bolsonaro's newly liberalized gun laws. It has been a huge success for the company, which has sold around 60,000 units, helping to lift its share price around 350% since the start of 2019.

Tomorrow, Brazilians will be voting in their country’s most polarized election in decades, with Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva favored to beat the right-wing Bolsonaro.  Most polls have shown Lula with a solid lead for months, but Bolsonaro signaled he may refuse to accept defeat, stoking fears of institutional crisis or post-election violence.  Bolsonaro has threatened to contest the result of the vote, after making baseless allegations of fraud, accusing electoral authorities of plotting against him and suggesting the military should conduct a parallel tally, which they declined to do.

 

Gun Violence Continues; Senate Does Nothing

More than 150 people were killed across America during the Memorial Day weekend, as gun violence soared across the country just days after the school massacre in Uvalde left 19 children and two teachers dead.  There were at least 14 'mass shootings' across the US over the weekend, according to the Gun Violence Archive, an institute tracking shootings in the country.

At least nine people were killed in the mass shootings and more than 60 people were injured, according to the Archive, which defines mass shootings as an incident where at least four people are shot and injured or killed, not including any shooter.   Overall, gun violence over the Memorial Day weekend saw 156 people killed and 412 injured.

Philadelphia and Chicago saw the worst of the shootings with 20 fatally shot, with 12 killed in the city of brotherly love and 8 killed in the Windy City.  At least 12 people were killed in Philadelphia, including a nine-year-old boy, while 12 people were injured.  A man, aged between 18 and 21, died of his injuries sustained in Overbrook on Sunday afternoon. Another man, 30, was shot in the Mill Creek neighborhood and died of his wounds. There was a double shooting in Kensington killing one man, a 49-year-old man was fatally shot in North Philadelphia at 9.30am on Sunday and a man was also killed in East Germantown.  In the Wissinoming neighborhood, a father and his son, 9, were killed in a drive-by shooting, according to NBC Philadelphia. The shooting happened on Carver Street around 10.30pm. Police also said multiple weapons were involved and several shots were fired.  A one-year-old boy was killed in another drive-by shooting in downtown Pittsburgh.

A man was shot in the head in the city's Chicago Lawn neighborhood at 1.31pm on Saturday and later died at Advocate Christ Medical Center, NBC5 reported.  Another two men, 29 and 28, were fatally shot when they opened fire on each other in the Englewood neighborhood at 5.04pm on Saturday. They later died at the University of Chicago Medical Center.  In South Carpenter, a man was shot in the head and body while standing on a sidewalk at 1.05am on Sunday.   A fifth fatal shooting occurred in West Madison at 6.40am on Sunday when a man, 33, was shot while driving eastbound.  Five were also injured in a mass shooting near Daniel Webster Elementary School, The Tribune reported.

In Oklahoma, a 26-year-old man opened fire at a Memorial Day festival in a mass shooting, killing a 39-year-old woman and injuring seven victims.  Authorities said a 26-year-old man is in custody after the shooting on Saturday night at an outdoor festival in eastern Oklahoma, where witnesses described frantic people running for cover amid gunfire.

One person was killed and six people were injured during a shooting on East Shelby Drive in Memphis, Tennessee at 6:30 pm. on Saturday.  Two male victims were taken to Regional One Health in critical condition, where one died, according to Memphis Commercial Appeal.  In another shooting, near the intersection of Chelsea Avenue and Peres Avenue at 11pm on Saturday, two people sustained gunshot wounds.

Two people were killed in separate shootings in New York City during Memorial Day weekend, according to police.  Donovan Davy, 45, was shot in Brooklyn and was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital, The New York Post reported.  Elsewhere, a victim was killed at an apartment complex in Brownsville, Brooklyn.  A man was also shot in Queens before 12am on Sunday and three others were hit by gunshots in Brooklyn.

Shots were fired in an amphitheater in Inner Harbor, Baltimore, at 7.35pm on Saturday killing a 17-year-old boy, it was reported by The Baltimore Sun.  Two men were also killed in a triple shooting on Saturday night and a woman was fatally shot.  Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said: 'I am sickened that this plague continues to grip our city.  "I will continue to push every public safety agency to do more, but it will also require all of us to collectively say enough is enough, that we’re not going to accept or allow violence in our city," he said.

One adult died and three teenagers were left injured in Fresno, California. Police responded to gunfire and found multiple victims with gunshot wounds, Your Central Valley reported.

One person was killed at graduation party inside the Park Lane Event Center in Atlanta, Georgia. More than 200 teenagers were celebrating the occasion when a gunman opened fire leaving two more injured.  Akeem Ellison, 18, later died at Upson Regional Medical Center, however cops have not made any arrests to date.

One person was killed at the exact same nightclub in Florida that a victim was killed three years previously.   According to Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, shots were fired at the Blue Lounge club in Tampa at 3am on Sunday.

A Day in Memoriam

Uvalde Massacre: The People Who Really Did This

 

Excited About Going Back to School

The Reality We Live In

Why the Fuck Does Anyone Need an AR-15?

Ten people were shot and killed in the parking lot and aisles of a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket on Monday afternoon. Among those killed was a police officer who entered the store in response to reports of shots fired. Witnesses reported hearing up to thirty shots.  21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa of Arvada, Colorado, was taken into custody and will be charged with ten counts of murder.  The number of rapid fire shots suggests a semiautomatic weapon, and CNN cites a law-enforcement official as saying that the weapon was an AR-15 style rifle.

The shooting comes less than two weeks after Colorado blocked the city of Boulder from enforcing a local ordinance banning AR-15 style weapons and magazines with a greater than 10 shot capacity, as reported by the Denver Post. Just six days before the shooting, the NRA celebrated the ruling in a tweet calling it “an NRA victory in Colorado.”  More like a victory for mass murders.

In 2000, around 85,000 AR-15 style rifles were sold. In 2005, after the assault weapons ban ended, the number jumped to 125,000. By 2008, sales exceeded 300,000. In 2012, sales exceeded 1 million for the first time. They’ve never fallen below that line since. The AR-15 now accounts for about a third of all rifles sold. And while 2020 may have dented most items in the economy, it was a record year for firearms sales.

Two decades ago, these were rare rifles owned by a small percentage of Americans who owned guns. A short time ago, the majority of rifles fell into two categories—.22 rimfire rifles used primarily for target shooting and small game; larger caliber centerfire rifles, many of them bolt or lever action, used in hunting deer and large game. Something like the AR-15 was an exotic item, even for people who owned guns.

The AR-15 (and similar assault weapons) were designed to kill as many people as possible in a short amount of time. There is no defense against such a weapon. Not only was one of those who died an armed police officer, it’s a fair bet that others in the store were armed.  Concealed carry is legal everywhere in Colorado. None of that would matter, because this type of rifle is designed to allow the murder of multiple people before there can be any possible response. Millions of Americans have purchased rifles that are only really good at killing millions of other Americans.

 

A Letter to Trump Supporters

Dear Trump supporter,

Let's make a deal.  I will not accuse you of being evil or dumb as mud if you show you are capable of learning from the experience of the past four years.  President-elect Biden is going out of his way to unconditionally embrace you.  I am not feeling so generous.   Here's what I'm willing to do:

1. You cannot support white supremacists.  You cannot support a person who says white supremacists are "very fine people." You must change.  I will not meet you halfway (as in we can be friends on the weekdays and you can spew hate against Blacks and Jews on the weekends).  No-- you can't do that.  There is no halfway. If you can pull yourself away from people who express hate against non-white people, I am willing to have an intelligent, respectful discussion about what immigration policies are in the best interest of the country and our families.

2. You cannot support people who objectify or molest women (or worse).  You cannot have an attitude that it is OK for anybody to grab a woman by the pussy without invitation.  You must change.  I will not meet you halfway by saying that it is OK to molest women only on Fridays and Saturday nights.  It is not OK.  You must change.  If you can find your way to condemn the abuse of women, then we can have an intelligent discussion about whatever underlying concerns might have led you to think molesting women is a good idea.

3. You cannot support people who own an arsenal of military-grade weapons and insist on unnecessarily displaying them.  You cannot own street sweeper guns in the belief that they will protect you from a hostile government.  Our Armed Services protect us from hostile foreign governments.  If you don't like the U.S. government, then you can vote them out.  I cannot meet you halfway by agreeing that is OK to carry assault rifles or long guns to the grocery store or civil protests where your life is not in danger.  If you can find a way to put down your weapons, we can have a discussion about gun policies that allow hunters and sport shooters to pursue their hobbies and reasonably defend your family without scaring the hell out of others or raising the risk of unnecessary violence.

4  You cannot support people who oppose science.  You cannot say that you don't "believe" in climate change.  You cannot claim that the coronavirus is a hoax or that  preventative measures like stay at home orders or face masks are "fake news."  I cannot meet you halfway on any issue of science  Science is built on proven methodology of hypotheses and proofs.  You are welcome to offer fact-based challenges to the proposals of others-- but you are not welcome to simply deny widely-accepted facts and impugn the motives and character of others who have followed the scientific method.  I cannot meet you halfway on this.  You must change.  If you can find your way to accept the scientific method, then we can have reasonable discussions about the certainty of scientific consensus and (more importantly) what policies make the most sense to deal with these problems.

I cannot meet you halfway if you insist on a position of ignorance or intolerance.  If that's the only way you can live, then we are going to have hard times ahead.   I sincerely hope you can learn something by what has transpired over the last four years and find a way to make basic changes in the way you approach life.  You must change-- and I hope you do.   I welcome you, in the full understanding that probably won't agree on everything.  But nothing can happen until you commit to moving from intractable positions that you have locked yourself into.  You must do that.  I cannot do it for you and there is no "halfway" where we can meet.  

Adapted from an anonymous diary entry on DailyKos

 

Three Kids Shot in Their Homes in a Single Texas County-- on the Same Day

In the span of a couple of hours, three children were shot in three separate incidents on Sunday in Tarrant County, Texas. One of the children, an 8-year-old girl, is expected to make a full recovery. A 4-year-old boy died after he was shot by a “juvenile sibling” at their home, and a 6-year-old is in the hospital in “grave condition” after he was shot in the head by his sibling.

The Dallas Morning News reports that the 6-year-old in grave condition was reportedly shot in the head by his 10- or 11-year-old brother after the older sibling discovered a .22 caliber rifle in the home. The boy thought it was a fake gun, aimed it at his brother, and shot. According to reports, an older teenage son says he had purchased the rifle. The parents in the home told investigators they were unaware there was a firearm in their home. The child’s 6-year-old sister was also struck by shrapnel but is expected to make a full recovery.

In another incident nearby, an 8-year-old girl who was shot in the buttocks when she accidentally sat down on a what was described as “an Uzi or MAC-10 equivalent” is reportedly recovering. Police say the weapon was reportedly stolen, and the initial statements by those on the scene tried to place the weapon outside of the home. Witnesses later admit the shooting took place in the home after a bullet hole was discovered inside.

Finally, a 4-year-old boy died after he was shot by a sibling “who is also a juvenile.” There is still very little information on what happened in the fatal case, but the results are usually tragic whenever a firearm is left unsecured in a home.

When Will We Come to Our Senses and Enact Real Gun Control?

Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, tried desperately on Saturday to focus on “mental health” issues instead of such matters as easy access to assault rifles as he spoke following the slaughter at a Walmart in his home state that left at least 20 people dead.

Police identified the gunman at Walmart as 21-year-old Patrick Crucius, but have said nothing about his mental health. Police and the FBI are investigating a hate-fueled anti-immigrant “manifesto” that may be linked to Crucius.

 Abbott boasted at his Saturday press conference that the state Legislature passed “bill after bill after bill” to protect students from school shootings after eight teenagers and two teachers were fatally shot last year at Santa Fe High School in Texas. One of the bills Abbott signed into law involved arming more teachers. None of the bills involved increased gun control.

In a second mass shooting hours later, at least nine people were murdered and more than two dozen were wounded after someone opened fire outside a bar in downtown Dayton, Ohio.  The shooter, later identified as 24-year-old Connor Betts was shot and killed by responding officers "in less than a minute" after opening fire.

Mayor Nan Whaley said Betts wore armor and was carrying a .223-caliber "long gun" and additional high-capacity magazines.  Betts' sister Megan and her boyfriend was later found dead near the scene of the shooting, and are believed to have been killed prior to the shooting spree.  Connor Betts had triggered a lockdown in his high school eight years ago when he posted a "hit list" on the wall of the bathroom at his high school.

Studies indicate that the rate at which public mass shootings occur has tripled since 2011.  Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred roughly once every 200 days.  However, between 2011 and 2014, that rate has accelerated greatly with at least one mass shooting occurring every 64 days in the United States. According to the non-profit Gun Violence Archive, there were 250 mass shootings between January 1 and August 3, 2019—the 215th day of the year. 

The GOP's tired old “good guy with a gun” slogan is an invitation to admit defeat. It’s a policy that says the best we can hope for is to react after someone opens fire. That preventing gun deaths is impossible, and the absolute best we can hope for, if everyone, everywhere, every time, is carrying a weapon … is to limit the number of dead.  But never prevent.  Because every bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun.  Until he shoots someone.

Trump Starts Blaming Others For Mass Shooting

After yet another mass school shooting (the 18th this year alone), Trump had tweeted his “prayers and condolences” to the families of those murdered, adding: “No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.”

In response, chaddiedabaddie, which purports to belong to a girl attending Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, near Fort Lauderdale, replied: “I don’t want your condolences you fucking [piece] of shit, my friends and teachers were shot."

“Multiple of my fellow classmates are dead. Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers won’t fix this. But Gun control will prevent it from happening again.”





This morning, Trump immediately tried to shift blame away from the GOP by implying that neighbors and friends should have done more: