Op-ed;
Two Republicans v. Sanctuary Cities and Gun-Free School Zones

By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on American Political Radio

"This is about public safety, not about politics. We must do everything within our power, and use all the tools available to us, to ensure that our communities are safe.”   
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on his signing SB 168: Federal Immigration Enforcement Bill

One of the best votes I ever cast, short of voting for Donald J. Trump of course, was voting for Ron DeSantis for Florida governor. A Republican-Conservative like me...as opposed to a Conservative Republican*...Navy veteran and former Congressman DeSantis not only ran a campaign based upon honesty, integrity, accountability, transparency and a true love of country, but is serving as governor with those very same values fully and unapologetically intact.

And while the actual race for governor was indeed both contentious and dirty at times via the theatrics of his socialist-condoning liberal opponent, then candidate Ron DeSantis held strong to his conservative values and above all else the words of the Constitution...the very document that nowhere states we must take into our country those who enter here illegally.

And that conservative focus was clearly seen when last Friday, now Governor Ron DeSantis fulfilled one key campaign promise made...to ban sanctuary cities in our state. And with that promise being a main talking point in both his inaugural and his State of the State address, Governor DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 168...the very bill that not only prevents cities throughout the state of Florida from declaring themselves as sanctuary cities, but actually mandates that all cities and all local law and state enforcement personnel must cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in all matters or else face strict penalties. After all, our governor knows that ICE can't do their job if our state's local authorities don't do theirs.

Simply, local law enforcement has a moral and ethical duty let alone the responsibility to report illegal aliens to ICE otherwise they are just as bad as the illegals they are protecting.

Now as to Senate Bill 168 itself...which passed 22-18 in the Senate and 68-45 in the House...this bill gives the governor himself as well as Attorney General Ashley Moody the legal authority to "initiate enforcement actions" against any city or municipality that refuses to detain a person based on “probable cause”...as in said person is deemed under federal immigration law to be a “removable alien”...as well as its requiring that any Florida city currently enacting sanctuary policies must repeal those policies within a specifically designated time frame.

And to this I say many “kudos” must go out to Governor DeSantis for it's way passed time that we in this country face the fact that we do need more governors like him... governors who will do the right thing as we law abiding citizens have had enough of those who not only come here knowingly and willingly by breaking our laws, but that those very lawbreakers do not get to stay here at the expense and on the dime of we true American taxpaying citizens...with “citizens” first and foremost being the operative word.

And while illegals...as well as those who advocate for these lawbreakers...are a huge problem nationwide, here in South Florida nearly half a million illegals call our state home, something that will now surely change. And change it will be no matter that opponents to the just signed bill...opponents like local immigrants rights groups, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the American Business Immigrant Coalition...tried to change and tone down...but thankfully failed...the bill's strong and direct language saying it was too broad in scope and would have unintended consequences, yet never saying what exactly those consequences would be.

But we know the true nature of those consequences... one just has to ask the family of Kate Steinle and the multitude of other families who have seen their loved ones murdered by those who had no right being here in the first place. Remember back to 2015 when Kate Steinle was killed by an illegal who was in possession of an illegal firearm...an illegal who had been deported back to Mexico five different times. And why did Kate die...not because she just happened to be taking a walk with her father on a beautiful sunny day and was in the wrong place at the wrong time...but because the San Francisco Police Department willfully ignored the ICE detainer request to keep her would be killer in custody until ICE was able to take him into their custody, and instead chose to released him. Kate Steinle's blood is surely on the San Francisco PD's hands.

Translation: sanctuary cities are a danger to the “health, safety, and welfare” of the American people...Governor Ron DeSantis knows this and acted accordingly to protect we citizens of Florida, and to that I and so many other Floridians say “thank you.”

Now as for someone else doing...or at least trying...to do the right thing enter center stage Rep. Thomas Massie from Kentucky who is reintroducing the previously failed “Safe Students Act.”

The “Safe Student Act” is the bill that if passed would amend the federal criminal code to allow the repeal of key provisions in the “Gun-Free Schools Act”...the very act that currently prohibits teachers and staff from being armed on school grounds and everyone else from being either in possession of or discharging a firearm in a school zone...as within 1,000 feet of a school campus. And if that law were to be repealed security guards, administrators, teachers, and parents themselves would be able to protect the students... would be able to protect innocent children left defenseless inside their own schools...be able to protect them even before police could arrive on campus if a shooting were to occur.

Seems like common sense alone should dictate such a repeal especially after last year's Parkland School massacre...unfortunately Democrats lack even enough common sense to realize that when an armed citizen is present gun violence usually has no chance to reach the status of a mass shooting.

And so for us on the right, like with our rightful anger surrounding the issue of sanctuary cities, that same anger has now also focused our attention on the fact that 98% of public mass shootings happen in “Gun-Free Zones”...the very zones killers target because Democrats have with the media's backing sold the masses on the nonsense that it's the “bad guns” that kill people and not the actual killers who pull the gun's trigger. And in their also trying to make the rest of us believe the fairy tale that “Gun-Free Zones” will keep us safe, reality instead shows that countless innocent lives that need not have been lost are lost because of the time it takes police to be called and arrive on scene to stop said killers.

Translation: we need a lot more “good guys” with guns in order to stop the “bad guys” with guns from possibly even being able to get one shot off. And when seconds really do matter a responsible gun owner can indeed save lives in an active-shooter situation.

So what are the specifics that would be accomplished by repealing the 1990 “Gun-Free Schools Act”...an act that itself was amended in 1996 after the Supreme Court ruled the first version unconstitutional. Simply, but most importantly, repealing this proven not to work monstrosity would allow for the eliminating of the one-size-fits-all federal ban on guns in school zones, making it easier for both state and local governments as well as school boards to set their own firearms policies...as it should have been in the first place.

And why is that...because guns and gun-related issues themselves are different in nature than most other issues being politicized to such a degree that folks are drawn into taking diametrically opposing sides...almost to the same degree as the battle lines are drawn regarding abortion. And we all know that when the federal government gets directly involved in what should be local and state business alone any regulatory power the local or state level might have had gets removed in favor of the feds. And this is what's happened with the “Gun-Free Schools Act” where a federal law has actually put American children's lives in danger.

And when a state or local government is forced to cede what power they did have regarding firearms to a federal one-size-fits-all approach to gun violence...an approach involving but a simple sign declaring a specific place as a “Gun-Free Zone”...not only is any "customized" solutions to gun violence that might have worked in any specific community been taken away, but the sheer ludicrisy of it all is the fact that while children in classrooms are targets ripe for the killing...and with those ridiculous signs announcing so...the very members in Congress who passed this ridiculous law are themselves “packing” to protect themselves and their families.

Total hypocrisy of the first degree.

And with signs alone misguidedly being used as protection finally hitting home on the right side of the aisle, know that this is not the first time a Republican has tried to get this dangerous law reversed. Back in 2007, Rep. Ron Paul (TX) tried to reverse this law and failed...but proving once again the old adage that even a broken clock is right twice a day.

And so Rep. Thomas Massie, the man who said that, “Gun-free zones are ineffective and make our schools less safe,” is stepping up to the legislative plate to try his best to get this nonsense repealed and he has seven Republican co-sponsors to aid him in his endeavor including...Reps Justin Amash (MI), Jody Hice (GA), Jeff Duncan (SC), Matt Gaetz (FL), Louie Gohmert (TX), James Comer (KY), and Brian Babin (TX). But Rep. Jeff Duncan stated it best when he said that, “The only thing gun-free zones do is disarm law-abiding citizens and take away their ability to protect themselves and others. We shouldn’t leave our most vulnerable – our children – in an unsafe environment like gun-free zones where acts of violence cannot be stopped.”

So with no Democrats on board with this repeal and with the House being in Democrat hands, know not only will Rep. Massie's call for repeal fail, but it won’t even be heard in committee and likely won’t get to vote. And sadly, the violence against our children will continue on with many more children likely to lose their lives. But now there's a bit of difference, because with no Democrat support and with those useless signs most likely remaining in place, any new blood spilled will be covering Democrats hands.
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* The difference between the two is explained in my article Saving 2020 .

Copyright @ 2019 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.

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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Craig Andresen's blog The National Patriot to read his latest article, The Desperately Obtuse World of Liberalism.

************************************************************************************************************************* RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!

Friday, June 21st, from 7 to 9pm EST on American Political Radio, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss 'Two Republicans v. Sanctuary Cities and Gun-Free School Zones'; 'The Desperately Obtuse World of Liberalism'; and important news of the day.

Hope you can tune in at: http://listen.samcloud.com/w/73891/American-Political-Radio#history...or on Tune-In at: https://tunein.com/radio/American-Political-Radio-s273246/

Op-ed:

More Guns...Not Less Guns

By: Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / Right Side Patriots on American Political Radio

“My daughter is in King David cemetery...“Never, ever will I see my kid, it’s an eternity.” 
- Andrew Pollack, the father of Parkland shooting victim Meadow Pollack

As we all know by now, last week the fires of hell reached up and touched the small city of Parkland, Florida...a city a bit too close for comfort from my hometown. And while not being directly affected, thank God, I and all my fellow Floridians closely feel the pain of those who lost their loved ones that horrific day. And that pain is forever ingrained in our consciousness as we mourn stolen promises of futures now and forever denied.

And I know this school well for my oldest son participated in many county/state AP math completions there. A large school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School drew students from neighboring cities as well as from Parkland itself and was home to over 3,000 students from grade 9 through 12. An A+ rated school, Stoneman Douglas received one of the highest point ratings in the county along with seeing Broward County's 2018 Assistant Principal of the Year award going to their own, Assistant Principal Winfred Porter.

In other words, a school dedicated to academic achievement, leadership skills, advanced technology, and sportsmanship, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is an ethnically diverse school not a school one would think of as the former home of one of the devil's disciples for there is no other way to describe the actions of one Nicholas Cruz but to say he might, for a brief moment in time, have even been the incarnate of what many believe is the devil himself.

Graphic warning: see actual student shot footage of the shooting as it happened here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEd5EpYsWlI

"It’s not about gun laws right now — that’s another fight, another battle,”  rightfully said Andrew Pollack when he met with President Trump.

Seventeen innocents are now dead because of this one evil young man...seventeen now added to the list of those killed in school shootings...school shootings that did not have to be for there is a true common denominator in the majority of these shootings...as in the shooter was a well-documented mentally ill young man. But what is so very disturbing in the Stoneman Douglas shooting is that 19-year old Nikolas Cruz...finally expelled last year for “behavioral issues” including but not limited to his ever constant use of vile and foul language; insulting, bullying, and assaulting his fellow students; disobeying teachers and disrupting classes...first saw his punishment for this then ongoing type of behavior as being merely family counseling and minor suspensions...a slap on the wrist if you will.

But many knew he was well beyond “family counseling” for Nikolas Cruz...who was diagnosed as being “developmentally disabled” by the time he was just three years old...(translation: having documented proof of severe emotional and behavioral issues)...was bounced from school to school because of said issues but more importantly showed all the signs of not just "developmental" issues but outright psychosis...in other words someone to be feared.

And school officials feared him enough to order a “threat assessment” be done on him.

And the students themselves feared Nikolas Cruz, calling him a loner who spoke of his fascination for guns and for killing animals, and who loved posting pictures on social media...including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat... of himself dressed in black posing with knives and guns and even pictures of “cutting” himself. Overly fascinated with blood and death, Cruz not too long ago commented in response to a YouTube video that his life's goal was to become a “school shooter.” Reported to both YouTube and the F.B.I. by the poster...all YouTube did was take Cruz's lone comment down...a comment he even signed his real name to...but most grievous of all is that the F.B.I. has admitted their failure to report this complaint to its Miami field office...who could have prevented the nightmare that ensued.

In other words, the F.B.I. was too busy chasing Russian ghosts than to follow-up on a tangible threat made against American school children. And the F.B.I. is rightfully in serious trouble for their gross negligence in this case, and I would not be surprised if within a short period of time major lawsuits by some of the parents and spouses of those children and adults murdered...killed seems not a strong enough word...do not bring lawsuits against this totally ineffectual agency.

See a screen capture of Nikolas Cruz's comment made and the statement by the poster whose video it was posted on here: 
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5583296/florida-shooting-shooter-nikolas-cruz-youtube-video-fbi/ 

And while Stoneman Douglas rightfully expelled this monster...sorry but that is what he is...unfortunately the Broward County School Board...who erroneously believes even mentally ill/psychotic children should be mainstreamed...also must share in not only some guilt but in some complicity for what happened for in May 2016 before Nikolas Cruz's final expulsion, records show that crisis workers for Henderson Behavioral Health, a major South Florida mental health center, were called to the high school due to Cruz's physical fighting with another student, and “determined” that Cruz was “not at risk to harm himself or others.”

Talk abut a mental health center that needs its license pulled for they, what with Cruz's past record of actions, could have ordered him to be immediately hospitalized but chose to do nothing instead. In fact, the Department of Children & Families (D.C.F.)...involved with the Cruz case since his adoption as an infant...also determined at that time that “ no referrals or services were needed” for him. And to add insult to injury, after the shooting D.C.F Secretary Mike Carroll stated that once records are closed...as is the case when someone turns 18 and is considered an adult...the state only investigates whether now said adult is safe and has access to help not if the public is safe from that person.

Failures all around and 17 innocent persons now lay dead...three adults and 14 children murdered because all the 'red flags' this psychotic young man sent out were totally ignored.

And why were those 'red flags' ignored...because mental illness in today's America is treated with the band-aid known as anti-psychotic drugs and feel-good therapy sessions that help but a few, all while allowing the mentally ill to roam our streets untethered for dare we step on their rights but it's okay for the mentally ill to deprive us of our right to life and safety.

And while what I say next will raise the ire of some, it's time we realize certain key truths before any more of our precious children...before any more innocent lives are lost at the hands of the seriously mentally ill. And let's start with two truths that cannot be stressed enough... first, guns do not kill people, people kill people. Guns are but inanimate objects that need a thinking living breathing person to activate them...they do not kill on their own.

And second, some people have no right owning any sort of firearm...ever. And that means that background checks on firearm buyers must be expanded to include mental health records (currently those records are deemed personal). That is the first thing that needs to be changed for the fact is that Nikolas Cruz...with his extensive mental health record... legally was able to buy the murder weapon...an AR-15...just three days after he was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School because his mental history was hidden from those checking his background.

Imagine...just three short days after being expelled from high school, this monster (for that is what he is) was able to add an AR-15 to his gun collection...a collection that included two other assault rifles, numerous handguns, BB guns, pellet guns, and even knives. And the couple... James and Kimberly Snead...that took him in at the urging of their son after his learning that Cruz's mom had died just last Thanksgiving...did so even though they knew he had "issues." Allowing Cruz to move in replete with his arsenal in hand...and all he possessed indeed constitutes an arsenal...an arsenal no 19-year old teenager should have...their sole caveat regarding his firearms was that Cruz buy a gun safe to keep in his room...a gun safe he obviously had a key to.

Saying they didn't know...in fact making the excuse that Cruz was just “quirky” and still a bit depressed over the sad untimely passing of his mother...these two clueless individuals...and by the way the husband being a former decorated Army veteran and military intelligence analyst should have seen at least some of the signs of a monster in the making and with the wife being a long-time nurse who if anyone should have seen the cracks in Cruz's armor of feigned sanity...both, in my opinion, are complicit in murder for the 'red flags' were there and yet they in their ignorance ignored them...including the fact that the monster was doing target practice outside their very own home. 

And when these two morons...sorry but that is how I feel...saw Cruz when going to pick up their son after he had been taken into police custody to make sure he was not involved...he wasn't...when they saw said monster James Snead said that, “He (Cruz) said he was sorry. He apologized. He looked lost, absolutely lost”...and Kimberly Cruz simply asked, “why.”

Sorry but even a modicum of sympathy for a murdering monster instead of all being focused on the victims should at least be deemed a “mental instability,” especially when the murdering monster saw police being called at least 39 times to his and other's homes over the past few years by those he had “dealings” with.

So while both mental instability and minor mental illness can manifest itself in many treatable and even curable forms ranging from simple depression to PTSD experienced by those (heroes) returning home from the theaters of war, when one exhibits signs of full-blown psychosis coupled with violent actions they must not be allowed to walk the streets of law-abiding citizens. And so, in my opinion, we need to bring back what was once called “insane asylums” for the truly psychotic need to be kept off the streets because it's a short trip from psychosis turning into full-blown rage...rage manifested into hurting others.

And in the case of school shootings, those in the grips of acting out said psychotic rage, more times than not, have been young people with a grudge who showed warning signs that were ignored by those too fearful or too ignorant to get involved.

But please know that I am not talking about the “insane asylums” of years past where the mentally ill were kept in deplorable conditions and warehoused as if being those to be discarded as trash...I am talking about locked down and round-the-clock armed guarded “safe places” where they receive treatment while being kept away from the general public for the good and the “safety” of said public. And if those interred in said “safe places” are minors or young adults then so be it for insanity knows no age nor should the law protect those deemed insane or a threat to the public. Remember, the public's right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' must always trump the rights of the criminally insane.

And whether some like it or not the truth is that one who kills on a grand scale makes one both a criminal and insane for the sane do not act in such manner yet the insane can still know right from wrong...no matter what the lawyers say.

Then when said person is released...but only after unanimously being deemed by both a panel of doctors and the court to be sane...these folks must never...and I mean never...be allowed to purchase a firearm for the journey back to madness is but a road that can easily be traveled again...and sadly many time is.

Now as for the gun control sorts...as in liberal Democrat and RINO politicians who use gun control as a political tool to advance their agenda of disarming America's citizenry...politicians who pushed through the nonsense of adding our nation's schools to the list of what is known as “gun-free zones”...zones proving time and again to be anything but...I must say I find it odd that many of them do indeed “carry” wherever they go but deny 'We the People' the same right they afford to themselves. It's alright in their minds for them to protect their person and their families but it's not okay for law-abiding citizens to do the same. Remember, these are the same sorts who relish in wailing against the Second Amendment as long as when our guns get taken away...they alone get to keep theirs.

And while gun control freaks love to spew the argument that guns beget violence F.B.I. statistics show just the opposite to be true for the fact is that an armed citizenry is a safe citizenry. And to that effect I say more guns are needed not less guns...but guns allowed only into the hands of those deemed mentally sane as that must be priority one. Remember, guns and acts of gun violence will, unfortunately, always be with us for the criminal sort will always find a way to secure a gun, but by allowing 'We the People' to arm ourselves as best as we see fit it would afford us the chance to protect our children by fighting back and not just seeing ourselves as sitting ducks ripe for some psychotic persons picking.

Simply, open carry in all 50 states is truly the only answer but open carry for those over 21 alone...those over 21 without documented mental health issues and without a criminal record. In other words, privacy laws regarding background checks must be changed to include the release and checking of all mental health records, and if the lawyers and politicians don't like it...well too damn bad...for in the case of America's children their Constitutional right to feel safe in their schools does take precedence over the rights of the insane and the Democrat's liberal agenda.

And as far as the schools themselves are concerned, there are simple solutions and actions that must be taken to insure our children's safety and I don't mean 'fluff' programs like the so-called Community Outreach To At-Risk Youth...a program which has proven to be for the most part ineffectual as the worst of the worst always manage to slip through the cracks. What I mean is having armed guards posted at all points of entry and departure during school operational hours, as well as having armed patrols randomly patrolling the halls during actual class hours. And those armed guards can be police officers, ex-military now civilians, or even specially trained parent volunteers who are tired of turning on their televisions and hearing about yet another school shooting.

Remember, much blood can be shed, as Parkland sadly learned, even in the short amount of time it takes for the police to arrive. And really, there is nobody better to protect America's children than America's parents...I cannot stress that enough.

Now add into this layer of police and parent protection specially trained armed teachers, but teachers armed by rotation so if an intruder does breech school security the intruder will be left wondering which teachers are armed and which teachers are not. This is what the Israeli's do and there has not been a school shooting since the first one occurred many years ago.

And if you want to get really serious, which we should, how about installing electrified fences around the perimeter of school grounds for many times fences are climbed or jumped to gain entry. And seriously, better a fried perp than any more dead children or teachers.

And if what I've said seems a bit over the top, the nearby Parkland shooting was indeed too close to home. And when such a nightmare is in one's backyard, so to speak, it becomes not only personal in an abstract way, but the pain and sadness runs deep because if not for the grace of God one of the dead children could have been one of your own.

For the political aspects regarding the Parkland school shooting, please see my Right Side Patriots partner Craig Andresen's article The Liberal Gun Control Agenda – 10 Hard, Cold Truths in his blog The National Patriot.

Copyright @ 2018 Diane Sori / The Patriot Factor / All Rights Reserved.

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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS...LIVE!

Today, Friday, February 23rd from 7to 9pm EST on American Political Radio, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss the Parkland, Florida school shooting...its fallout and ramifications; and important news of the day.

Hope you can tune in at: http://listen.samcloud.com/w/73891/American-Political-Radio#history