Parkland Shooting: Was It The Gun Laws Or The School Who Failed Those Children?

A father by the name of Andrew Pollack has just co-written a new book titled “Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies that Created the Parkland Shooter and Endanger America’s Students”  Mr. Pollack’s 18 year old daughter, Meadow, was killed by Nikolas Cruz during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School shooting back in February 2018 in Parkland Florida.

The New York Post published an excerpt from that book that details real bizarre behavior by the shooter which brings into question why no one in the school attempted to do anything to help the shooter and possibly stop this shooting.

The following are just seven of the most egregious behavior by the shooter detailed by the Daily Caller:

Cruz Was Caught Masturbating In School

According to the excerpt, a female student named Paige first met Cruz and he tried to give her a hug. After the hug, a teacher told Paige, “Don’t touch him. He just got caught jerking off.”

Cruz Shouted: “I Want To Kill!”

In another incident, Cruz’s eighth grade teacher Carrie Yon told him that he was a “good kid.”

In response, he yelled, “I’m a bad kid! I want to kill!”

A Teacher Wrote That Cruz Didn’t Understand The Difference Between Violent Video Games And Reality

The same teacher, Carrie Yon, wrote in a “Functional Behavioral Analysis” of Cruz that she didn’t think he “understands the difference between his violent video games and reality.”

“He is constantly showing aggressive behavior and poor judgment. His drawings in class show violent acts (people shooting at each other) or creepy sexual pictures (dogs with large penises) … I would like to see him sent to a facility that is more prepared and has the proper setting to deal with this type of child,” she wrote.

Cruz Attempted To Commit Suicide After School

As an eighth grader, Cruz reportedly tried to commit suicide by jumping into traffic. This incident was recorded by teachers as a “minor disruption.”

Cruz Was Obsessed With “Terrorist Topics” And Was An “Excessive” Gamer

After Cruz enrolled in a special school in early 2014, a psychiatrist wrote in a report that due to “excessive gaming,” the future school shooter had a preoccupation with war and terrorism.

“He goes to YouTube to research wars, military material, and terrorist topics. Wears military related items before he goes to school. Parent stated that all of these ideas are related to his excessive gaming,” Dr. Nyrma Ortiz wrote.

School Psychiatrists Warned That Cruz Has “Dreams Of Killing Others”

In a note written by Ortiz and another therapist Rona Kelly, they report that he admitted to having “dreams of killing others and [being] covered in blood.”

Despite All Of This, Cruz Was Able To Go To MSD High School And Join JROTC

Finally, the most interesting bit of information from the excerpt is that after a short period of good behavior, Cruz was sent to MSD High, and even temporarily joined the school’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) program.

Mr. Pollack and his co-writer wrote the following:

Nikolas Cruz couldn’t possibly have made himself any clearer. Broward schools staff knew exactly who and what he was. Yet they not only allowed him to enroll in Marjory Stoneman Douglas, they literally gave him an air gun, shaped like an AR-15, and let him practice shooting.

I know many people say hindsight is 20/20 and many times that phrase and thought does apply.  I would have to say with the behavior that was demonstrated above, hindsight is 20/20 is certainly not applicable in this case.

Could this teenager been crying out for anymore help?

Why didn’t anyone in authority do more to help this boy and possibly stop this shooting?

How would banning of any guns have stopped this shooting?

The increase in shootings or mass shootings is not due to an increase in the availability of guns, guns were much easier to obtain decades ago and we did not have this problem.

The problem appears to be more on a human level, for some reason more children, teenagers and adults are suffering from mental challenges and acting out on those challenges.

If adults and teenagers in and outside of schools are not going to do anything about these troubled people than all the gun laws in the world will not stop them from acting out on their demons.  Ban and confiscate all guns and they will either find the guns on the black market or use some other means, i.e. a van to run over students in the parking lot.

This is not a gun issue, it is a mental health issue and in the case of the Parkland Florida shooting the school not doing enough to protect the other students.  Were they worried about the eventually shooters rights more than the other students or did they attempt restorative justice with Cruz and it did not work.