The nation was rocked on Wednesday with the devastating news of yet another school shooting. This time, the incident took place in Parkland, Florida, at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where former student Nikolas Cruz returned to open fire on students and teachers, killing 17 people and wounding over a dozen more.
This shooting, sadly, is not the first of its kind this year. There have already been a number of such shootings, although precise calculation methods vary. In total, at least 333 Americans aged 12 through 17 have been injured or killed in incidents of gun violence since January 1, 2018, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
It’s obvious, then, that something is wrong. What’s less obvious is how, considering how entrenched the NRA and related interests are in this country, we are ever going to find a solution to stop these tragedies.
The president weighed in on the matter on Twitter this Thursday morning, attempting to completely absolve the government of any responsibility for the matter. Mayor Christine Hunchofsky — leader of Parkland, Florida, where the shooting occurred — has now responded to the president’s comments during an appearance live on CNN.
The president’s original tweet reads:
‘So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!’
In other words, instead of common sense gun violence solutions, the president wants community members to act as vigilantes in an attempt to keep another tragedy like that in Parkland from unfolding elsewhere in the U.S.
Mayor Hunchofsky responded to this during an appearance on CNN by reminding the world that it’s not that simple.
She commented:
‘If a solution were simple for these things, we would have found one already, and I don’t think there’s one solution. I think it takes many people and many different avenues to come to a solution, and hopefully we never see one of these tragedies happen again in our country.’
Check out the video below.
Parkland, Florida Mayor Christine Hunschofsky responds to President Trump’s tweet about yesterday’s shooting at a school in her city: “If a solution were simple for these things, we would have found one already” https://t.co/Uj2eStxjPa
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 15, 2018
Hunchofsky is correct, of course. Although she didn’t specifically call out the president by name or anything, instead commenting more generally, he has shown himself yet again to have questionable qualifications for his present position considering the “solution” he’s offered that conveniently glazes over the need for common sense gun control.
Besides her comments on television, the mayor also posted a message on Twitter.
Although the mayor didn’t confront the president by name, someone else who was involved was more biting. Teacher Melissa Falkowsji commented during an appearance on television that it feels like “our government, our country has failed us and failed our kids, and didn’t keep us safe.”
Apparently the president doesn’t believe that this teacher’s perspective is worth considering, since he ignores the possibility that the issue is with something else other than what he described.
The president’s tweet about the matter came after media reports about the attacker’s disturbing social media posts and comments to peers, a situation that makes it in the president’s mind seemingly as though Parkland community members should have done something to prevent this.
Featured Image via Screenshot from the Video
