Wednesday, June 05, 2019

Everyone considered him the coward of (Broward) county

It's been nearly 16 months since the the tragedy at Parkland, Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 people. In the time frame since the shooting, there has been an investigation into the actions (or non actions) of Scot Peterson, the armed resource officer on the campus who didn't enter the school to confront the gunman.

On Tuesday, it was determined that Peterson will be criminally charged for his abdication of duty.

For more than a year after the February 2018 attack in Parkland, Fla., grieving parents have demanded that Mr. Peterson — along with the gunman who killed 17 and injured 17 — be held accountable in what would prove to be one of the nation’s worst school shootings. On Tuesday, law enforcement responded with a sweeping list of charges that resulted in Mr. Peterson’s arrest. His alleged crime: failing to protect the students.

America’s long history of mass shootings have brought a variety of responses: Calls for tighter gun laws, civil lawsuits against companies that manufacture guns and firearm components
(none of which would deter a motivated spree killer - ed.), collective mourning. But Tuesday’s charges represented a highly unusual case of a lawman arrested for failing to save lives.

I'm not certain if Peterson will ultimately be found criminally liable since there have been past legal decisions stating that law enforcement does not have a constitutional duty to protect citizens from harm. So if indeed Peterson is not convicted, it will only fortify vigilance in the Second Amendment. A non-conviction will also fly in the face of a prolific gun-grabbers chanting point of "only law enforcement and military should be allowed to handle guns."

I don't believe it's a dramatic overstatement to say a lot will be riding on this case -- legally and politically. 

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