On the recent mass killing in Texas

Uvalde school police chief defends delay in entering classroom

The Texas school police chief criticised for his actions during one of the deadliest classroom shootings in US history has said that he did not consider himself the person in charge as the massacre unfolded and assumed someone else had taken control of the law enforcement response.

Pete Arredondo, the police chief of the Uvalde school district, in an interview published on Thursday told the Texas Tribune that he intentionally left behind both his police and campus radios before entering Robb Elementary School.

“I didn’t issue any orders,” The Texas Tribune quoted Arredondo as saying. He added: “I called for assistance and asked for an extraction tool to open the door.” The doors to the two classrooms were locked, the Texas Tribune reported.

“The only thing that was important to me at this time was to save as many teachers and children as possible,” Arredondo said, according to the Tribune. But first he wanted a key.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said days after the shooting that as many as 19 officers waited about an hour in a hallway outside classrooms 111 and 112 before a US Border Patrol-led tactical team finally made entry.
Who, when told the police chief was not in charge, does not ask "Who was then?".

Also, what does a "hellfire" device do? If this thing works like it says what is the point in banning fully auto?

What a bunch of bloody nut jobs.
 
March For Our Lives: Tens of thousands rally for stricter US gun laws

Thousands of protesters are gathering across the US to call for stricter gun laws in the wake of last month's mass shooting in Texas.
More than 450 rallies are scheduled for Saturday, including events in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to March for Our Lives, a gun safety group founded by student survivors of a 2018 massacre at a high school in Florida.
It said it would not let politicians "sit back" as people continue to die.
US President Joe Biden backed the protests, calling on Congress to "pass common sense gun safety legislation".
Live On Youtube from DC at time of writing:

 
@TheMeInTeam Here is another legislative committee sticking their nose into crimes that are none of their business. Why can't they just let the police stonewall everyone and hide the facts if they want? There certainly isn't any need to have the facts of the police failure made public.... :p

Texas Lawmaker: Uvalde Police Agree To Cooperate With Probe
A Texas lawmaking leading an investigation into the Uvalde elementary school shooting says local police have agreed to meet with his committee.
Jun 17, 2022, 05:22 PM EDT

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Police in Uvalde agreed Friday to speak to a Texas House committee investigating the May 24 massacre at an elementary school, according to a Republican lawmaker leading the probe who had begun to publicly question why the officers were not cooperating sooner.

“Took a little bit longer than we initially had expected,” state Rep. Dustin Burrows said.

On Thursday, Burrows signaled impatience with Uvalde police, tweeting that most people had fully cooperated with their investigation “to help determine the facts” and that he didn’t understand why the city’s police force “would not want the same.” He did not say which members of the department will meet with the committee, which is set to continue questioning witnesses in Uvalde on Monday about the attack that killed 19 students and two teachers.

Uvalde police did not reply to messages seeking comment.

Weeks after one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, law enforcement officials have stopped providing updates about what they’ve learned about the shooting and the police response. Their silence comes after authorities gave conflicting and incorrect accounts in the days after the shooting, sometimes withdrawing statements hours after making them.

Officials also haven’t released records sought under public information laws to media outlets, including The Associated Press, often citing broad exemptions and the ongoing investigation. It has raised concerns about whether such records will be released, even to victims’ families.

The state House committee has interviewed more than a dozen witnesses behind closed doors so far, including state police, school staff and school district police. The list of witnesses provided by the committee so far has not included Pete Arrendondo, the Uvalde school district police chief, who has faced criticism over his actions during the attack.

Burrows defended the committee interviewing witnesses in private and not revealing their findings so far, saying its members want an accurate account before issuing a report. “One person’s truth may be different than another person’s truth,” Burrows said Friday.

Since the shooting, Republican leaders in Texas have called for more mental health funding but not new gun restrictions. Authorities say the 18-year-old gunman used and AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. Police did not confront he gunman for more than an hour, even as anguished parents outside the school urged officers to go in.
 
@TheMeInTeam Here is another legislative committee sticking their nose into crimes that are none of their business. Why can't they just let the police stonewall everyone and hide the facts if they want? There certainly isn't any need to have the facts of the police failure made public.... :p

Texas Lawmaker: Uvalde Police Agree To Cooperate With Probe
A Texas lawmaking leading an investigation into the Uvalde elementary school shooting says local police have agreed to meet with his committee.
Jun 17, 2022, 05:22 PM EDT

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Police in Uvalde agreed Friday to speak to a Texas House committee investigating the May 24 massacre at an elementary school, according to a Republican lawmaker leading the probe who had begun to publicly question why the officers were not cooperating sooner.

“Took a little bit longer than we initially had expected,” state Rep. Dustin Burrows said.

On Thursday, Burrows signaled impatience with Uvalde police, tweeting that most people had fully cooperated with their investigation “to help determine the facts” and that he didn’t understand why the city’s police force “would not want the same.” He did not say which members of the department will meet with the committee, which is set to continue questioning witnesses in Uvalde on Monday about the attack that killed 19 students and two teachers.

Uvalde police did not reply to messages seeking comment.

Weeks after one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, law enforcement officials have stopped providing updates about what they’ve learned about the shooting and the police response. Their silence comes after authorities gave conflicting and incorrect accounts in the days after the shooting, sometimes withdrawing statements hours after making them.

Officials also haven’t released records sought under public information laws to media outlets, including The Associated Press, often citing broad exemptions and the ongoing investigation. It has raised concerns about whether such records will be released, even to victims’ families.

The state House committee has interviewed more than a dozen witnesses behind closed doors so far, including state police, school staff and school district police. The list of witnesses provided by the committee so far has not included Pete Arrendondo, the Uvalde school district police chief, who has faced criticism over his actions during the attack.

Burrows defended the committee interviewing witnesses in private and not revealing their findings so far, saying its members want an accurate account before issuing a report. “One person’s truth may be different than another person’s truth,” Burrows said Friday.

Since the shooting, Republican leaders in Texas have called for more mental health funding but not new gun restrictions. Authorities say the 18-year-old gunman used and AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. Police did not confront he gunman for more than an hour, even as anguished parents outside the school urged officers to go in.

I'm not going to lie, the fact that this isn't one of the most outrageous news stories I've heard this year tells me everything I need to know about the US and the state of the nation. Imagine being the boot and letting a criminal murder 20 children and jsut standing there and then responding to inquiries with "yea gfy press". This stuff is legend. Foundational fascist legend. They should all be fired if not for the initial offense for trying to block inquiry into the offense.
 
I'm not going to lie, the fact that this isn't one of the most outrageous news stories I've heard this year tells me everything I need to know about the US and the state of the nation. Imagine being the boot and letting a criminal murder 20 children and jsut standing there and then responding to inquiries with "yea gfy press". This stuff is legend. Foundational fascist legend. They should all be fired if not for the initial offense for trying to block inquiry into the offense.
Welcome to Texas. New state motto: "We need to be worse than Florida"
 
Conservatives wanting to arm teachers seems kind of off kilter. Aren't they worried that the teachers would now teach the kids Critical Race Theory at gunpoint?
 
People tend to blame things they dont like, violent video games, Hollywood, marijuana, guns, access to guns, a permissive culture detached from god. I blame the drug war and the culture it creates - violence, gang wars, etc...
 
@TheMeInTeam Here is another legislative committee sticking their nose into crimes that are none of their business. Why can't they just let the police stonewall everyone and hide the facts if they want? There certainly isn't any need to have the facts of the police failure made public.... :p

considering performance in cop misdeeds, it's probably time to put oversight somewhere else. it should not take cops physically making a tragedy worse than not being there for us to conclude that their oversight is not functioning.
 
US Senate reaches bipartisan deal on gun control

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the United States have reached an agreement on major gun control legislation for the first time in nearly 30 years, paving the way for a vote in the Senate by the end of the week.

The 80-page bill was released on Tuesday and includes measures to tighten background checks on young people buying weapons, more background checks, and the temporary removal of weapons from those considered a danger to others or themselves.

It cleared an initial procedural hurdle by 64-34, with 14 Republicans joining all 48 Democrats and two allied independents to back the bill.

“I believe that this week, we will pass legislation that will become the most significant piece of anti-gun-violence legislation Congress will have passed in 30 years. This is a breakthrough,” Senator Chris Murphy, the lead Democrat in the talks, said on the Senate floor. “And more importantly, it is a bipartisan breakthrough.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voiced his support for the measures, calling the bill “a commonsense package of popular steps that will help make these horrifying incidents less likely while fully upholding the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens”.​
 
Ha! That's an old man thought. You're getting oooooold.

It's sort of true though. People get significantly less violent as they age, on average. And we do like grouping our ages in this country. Surprise surprise!
 
...where are those slippers?
 
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