USA Today Reader:
Guns deaths in general were already on the decline before they enacted the legislation. And, while many Ausies own guns, they have far less gun deaths, proportionally) in general than the US.

It’s not {just} the legislation, it’s the mindset. Somehow, a lot more Americans are obsessed with killing people. Take away the AR15s and the death toll at such events may decline, but the number of events will not.

Put another way, this kid didn’t do this simply because he had access to an automatic weapon, but the automatic weapon helped him do it more efficiently.

I think we have reached a critical mass of publicity. It is so publicized that people like this kid in Florida obsess about it and finally do it. And, he is rewarded for it through the attention he gets. […]

Excerpts:
Twenty-two years ago, just weeks after the deadliest and last fatal mass shooting in Australia’s history, the country’s then-Prime Minister John Howard made it clear: Australia will not be like the United States.

“I would dread the thought that this country would go down the American path so far as the possession of firearms,” said Howard — at a gun rally.

Each time there’s a mass shooting like the one Wednesday in Parkland, Florida, where 17 were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, attention turns to Australia and the changes it made to its gun laws two decades ago.

The country made sweeping gun control measures after a man killed 35 people with a semi-automatic weapon in a popular tourist area of Port Arthur, in Tasmania. Weeks after the April 1996 tragedy, the country and its states began banning rapid-fire guns to tamp down on mass shootings and then offered to buy the prohibited firearms.

Research suggests it’s worked.

The University of Sydney, in a 2016 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found Australia hadn’t experienced a fatal mass shooting — one in which five or more people are killed — since the 1996 shooting. In the 18 years prior, 1979-1996, there were 13 fatal mass shootings in Australia.

The numbers also showed total firearm deaths in Australia, which had been declining before 1996, dropped more rapidly once the changes were made. There were also declines in non-gun-related suicides and homicides, the study found, meaning researchers can’t determine whether the laws can be credited with driving the declines. […] – USA Today

EVERY elected official -Repubs, Dems and Indies – who sat on their collective azzez FOR YEARS and done NOTHING to fight the Evil that is the NRA share in the blame for the catastrophic injuries and deaths of EVERY man, woman and CHILD who’ve paid the ultimate price for such depraved indifference and political cravenness of those elected officials.

May ALL of those elected officials (past and present) be haunted by their own conscience the rest of their miserable lives.

Meanwhile, Cruz’s digital footprint offers disturbing glimpses into his mind.

He hurled slurs at blacks and Muslims, and according to the Anti-Defamation League, had ties to white supremacists. He said he would shoot people with his AR-15 and singled out police and anti-fascist protesters as deserving of his vengeance.

Posts under videos on YouTube and other sites by someone using the name Nikolas Cruz include threatening comments, such as:

“I whana shoot people with my AR-15.”

“I wanna die Fighting killing s**t ton of people.” “I am going to kill law enforcement one day they go after the good people.”

On an Instagram account under the name @Nikolascruzmakarov, his profile picture shows him with a mask around his face, wearing a Make America Great Again hat. Other posts include a photo of a rifle, a collection of firearms on a bed, and a photo taken through a scope looking out a window.

A video blogger said he warned the FBI in September about a possible school shooting threat from a YouTube user with the same name as Cruz. An FBI agent confirmed that a field officer in Jackson, Mississippi, received the tip and interviewed the person who shared it. But no additional information was found to help identify the person who posted the comment and no connection was made to south Florida, said Robert Lasky, FBI special agent in charge of the Miami division.

Source: “Gunman confessed to Florida high school shooting” – CNN.com

Latest Developments – Part l

• Broward Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Cruz family home 39 times since 2010.
• The shooter’s former neighbor said Cruz pointed a BB gun at homes and did target practice in the
neighborhood
• Cruz had an Instagram account with posts that include photos of a rifle and a collection of firearms on
a bed.
• The shooter legally purchased the firearm used in the shooting at a gun store in Coral Springs, Florida.

Cruz confessed to police to being the gunman, according to a probable cause affidavit. His public defender described him as a “deeply disturbed, emotionally broken” young man who is coming to grips with the pain he has caused.

“He’s gone through a lot in a very short period of time and that does not minimize the loss of those families, but we have to put that into the proper light,” Gordon Weekes said. “He is suffering from significant mental illness and significant trauma and he has some very difficult decisions to make shortly and we’re going to assist him with those decisions.

Source: “Gunman confessed to Florida high school shooting” – CNN.com