The St. Valentine's Day Massacre In Florida - You Can Blame Governor Rick Scott Too!

Scene of bedlam at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, FL yesterday.

"Everybody's sayin' to themselves 'I wanna be safe. So my job as governor is to try to do everything I can to provide any services they need.  Ya know, hug people that wanna be hugged...."

 -  Gov. Rick Scott yesterday, after the massacre in Parkland, FL that claimed 17 lives, the worst high school shooting in American history.


First, let's make it clear the little scum ball who pranced into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and opened fire yesterday is a maggot who deserves one of two ends: 1) Being fried in the Florida electric chair known as "Old Sparky" - maybe set it back up again after yrs. of disuse, or 2) being locked up in what - in the olden days - we called a "nut house". There given electric shock therapy several times a day while being kept in a strait jacket.

But while Nicholas Cruz will live in infamy along with the Columbine killers - who still cast a shadow over my state (Colorado- and is indeed the immediate source of the horrors that unfolded yesterday, we cannot let Gov. Rick Scott off the hook. Not by a long shot, given Scott and his Repuke cabal in the Sunshine state have been responsible for passing some of the most lax gun laws in the nation.

This is important, because while the NRA bullshit lobby insists new regulations - say strict licensing  - won't do diddly, the state of Massachusetts and its own gun laws prove that they do. As we learn from Wikipedia:

"Massachusetts Law requires firearm owners to be licensed through their local Police Department or the Massachusetts State Police if no local licensing authority is available. A license is required by state law for buying firearms and ammunition. An applicant must have passed a State approved firearm safety course before applying for a license.

All applications, interviews, fees, and fingerprinting are done at the local Police Department then sent electronically to the Massachusetts Criminal History Board for the mandatory background checks and processing. All approved applicants will receive their license from the issuing Police Department. All licensing information is stored by the Criminal History Board. Non residents who are planning on carrying in the state must apply for a temporary license to carry (LTC) through the State Police before their travel."

Now compare with Florida's thanks to the likes of Rick Scott - who is convinced the most he can do for his state citizens is to dispense hugs:

Florida law prohibits localities from regulating firearms, other than with regards to zoning laws (i.e., for restricting where gun sellers may locate their businesses), the imposition of a 5 day waiting period to purchase firearms, and a background check for any sale of a firearm in the county where any part of the transaction occurs where the public has right of access.

Note carefully how this lame law prohibits localities - like Parkland - from regulating firearms, i.e. restricting locations of gun sellers.  Wonder why the mass murderer Cruz found it so easy to get his AR-15? There's your answer. Let us note now that the rate of gun deaths in MA is 2 per 100,000 compared to Florida's rate of 13.1 per 100,000. In other words, Florida's rate if more than six times greater.

If you compare the laws in the two states you can see Massachusetts is far more restrictive and entails actually being licensed - as well as being finger printed in the process.. Florida?  The wannabe killer just has to endure a five day wait, and that assumes he didn't go to a gun show where some scofflaw might have been inclined to even ignore that.

n a tweet on Thursday morning Trump made no mention of gun control, instead focusing on Cruz’s background. “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior,” Trump wrote. “Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!”

But no mention of how easy it was for the punk to get unlicensed access to the weapon of his choice, to partly fulfill his proclaimed ambition of "being a professional school shooter."

 Now let's get real about Scott's role in this, and before continuing let's grasp Scott is basically a criminal like Trump. When Rick Scott was in charge of Columbia HCA he bilked Medicare out of hundreds of million and was fined heavily for it.  Indeed, he oversaw what has since been known as the largest Medicare fraud in history. So in many respect, Scott and Trump are two peas in the same vermin pod. Noooooooo.....Scott didn't pull the trigger of that AR-15 that slaughtered those 17 victims. But, he did loosen the gun regulation laws to the point that a deranged manic like Nicholas Cruz  could walk right in to a gun shop or show and buy his choice of assault weapon. 

Cruz had the damned weapon, but Rick Scott left the door open to get it.

As Lawrence O'Donnell put it last night on his "Last Word":

"Governor Rick Scott of Florida has done everything he possible can to make sure that the AR-15 assault weapon  is easily obtainable by any mass murderer in America.  That has been the mission of Republicans like Rick Scott. The reason that weapon is available in Florida - over the counter for anyone 18 years of age or older - is because of politicians like Rick Scott, who has made sure the weapon is as easy to buy as an automobile."

O'Donnell then played a clip of this foul maggot governor being asked the following question by a reporter:

"What business does a 19 year old have with owning an AR-15 specifically?"

Realizing he was cornered, like a rat, Scott tap danced all over the place, ending with some vapid remark along the lines of:  "We gonna learn all the facts then we can determine the future ...you know how we can continue to make this place safe,"

HOW to make this place safe? You bozo! You impose strict licensing law like Massachusetts!

But like his fellow Florida imp - Marco Rubio - who also questions whether any gun law could work to save lives in Florida - Rick Scott has his balls in hock to the NRA.

Bear all this in mind as you further learn about this  tragedy which appears to be the eighth deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history and one of the worst ever school massacres.

When will Florida and the rest of the lax gun states get serious about protecting its citizens? Will it be after a heavily armed maniac barges into a nursery and slaughters 50 infants in their cribs? Janice doesn't believe things will change even then, and frankly, neither do I - so long as we keep putting vermin like Rick Scott into office.

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