January 23, 2013

As serious as yesterday's shooting incident was on the campus of Lone Star College in Harris County is was packed just full of things that can only be described as a 'dog and pony show'.

First, let me say all the law enforcement agencies involved performed wonderfully.  Response time was 3 minutes and the college classrooms were cleared within minutes.  The shooter was identified when he went to a hospital emergency room for treatment.  Apparently he was unaware the law requires hospitals to report gunshot victims to the police. 

College officials and students reacted perfectly.  They had already designed and implemented a plan for just such an emergency and when the time came, it worked.

What was aggravating and disturbing to many was the way the media played the story, and when I say PLAYED, that's what I mean, PLAYED!

Over and over reporters were reporting the wrong information then trying to wriggle themselves out of it when it became apparent to their viewers they had no idea what they were talking about.

Interviewing passerbys who knew nothing about what was going on.  They just wanted someone talking on their cameras to build the drama and make us think they were delivering the news.  I don't care to listen to some goof-ball blabber on TV about what he heard someone else say, and it's all wrong anyway.

Folks, it's not the guns that are causing these college campus shooting to happen over and over.  It's monkey see, monkey do, and they're seeing it on television.  Nuts are reacting to what they see other nuts do on television.  If that's not apparent to anyone with an average IQ, I don't know what is.  If the killings were being done with hatchets, we would see more and more hatchet killings on campuses.  Bet?

And then naturally, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee had to crawl out from under her log, get on television and proclaim that she was going to make sure the Lone Star College shooting was investigated and that the college will have all the necessary resources it needs to see that happens. You know and I know, if there is a TV camera whirling within 5 miles of Jackson-Lee, she's going to run jump in front of it and get those lips flapping.

Then came the Attorney General from his cozy office in Austin who declared, "I've instructed our Crime Victim Services Division to immediately make contact with the school and with families involved to offer whatever assistance we can provide."
I generally like Greg Abbott, but I don't think the local law enforcement officials needed anything from him.  In fact NO ONE needed anything from him.

And what a disgusting press conference on the campus with college and law enforcement officials.  A man who identified himself as the 'Acting Sheriff' took to the mike and mumbled and stumbled and hem-hawed around for about 10 minutes before he finally gave it up to someone who could speak. First of all, there is no such thing as an 'Acting Sheriff'.  The man was a Major and that's what he should have identified himself as.  He may have been speaking on behalf of the absent Sheriff, but he was by no means the 'Acting Sheriff'.  That brought laughs from every cop who saw and heard it.  The Sheriff's Public Information Officer was standing right beside him and when he finally let her speak, she delivered perfectly so that everyone could understand.  That was her job to begin with but that Major, like so many who seek fame from TV cameras, had to prove to everyone that he didn't have a clue about what to say when the cameras began rolling and the questions started coming.  He finally ducked and ran behind the line of people, out of sight.

So, what do we do now?  Shall we ban pistols?  Do we need an executive order banning the sale of pistols to prevent this sort of thing from happening again?  This creep did his shooting with a pistol which is already banned from school campuses.  It is a felony to take a firearm on a school campus of any kind, but it didn't stop this nut.

Oh what a frustrating event.  Maybe law enforcement should consider keeping the news media at least a block or two away from these major events where they can perform their antics on a street corner and stay the hell out of the way.

That's the way I see.

Breck Porter