Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario posted a video on Facebook February 19 in which he argues that blaming guns for school shootings just doesn't make sense. He likens the issue to car accidents.
"Let’s talk about vehicle crashes," he says in the clip, which was originally posted on February 19. "About 25,000 people a year are killed because of motor-vehicle crashes, but you don’t hear anybody blaming the vehicle. We blame the driver. We have burglaries. Do we blame the locks on the doors? No, we blame the criminal. Bank robbers — we don’t blame the bank or the vault or the money or the teller. We blame the criminal."
Readers had plenty to say in response.
Ben says:
If guns are like cars as Sheriff Jethro says then all we need is gun permits, gun licensing, gun registration, gun liability gun insurance, and cup holders!Monica argues:
A criminal without a firearm, is less dangerous than a criminal with an assault rifle!Ronda explains:
Is this how smart our law enforcement really are? No wonder the drug war failed and we have so many mass shootings done by people who have been reported to police over and over and over and over and over. Can you say duh?Justin notes:
Well a lock is not designed to kill people. A gun is designed to destroy what ever is on the business end of the barrel without discrimination. Sure it’s a person who chooses what is on the other end of the barrel but the only purpose of a gun is destroy what is on the other end of the barrel.Joshua argues:
Exactly! The real problem is the demented human mind!!! People have been killing each other for centuries with other things other than guns lol. Wake up people!Keep reading for more stories about guns and mass shootings in Colorado.
A post circulated on social media cropped to disguise the identity of the Jeffco High School student pictured.
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A cropped version of a post featuring a threat against Bear Creek High School that circulated on social media.
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Images from the aftermath of the February 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, recall similar coverage during the 1999 attack on Columbine High School.
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In his view, Vallario goes on, the "same thing is true when we have somebody killed with a gun or other type of weapon. We need to blame the person behind the crime, not the gun. It’s really convenient for the liberal politicians and Hollywood types to stand on the red carpet and spout out things about gun control, and they know very little about that."
Of course, left-wing officials and movie stars aren't the only folks talking about the connection between the easy availability of automatic weapons and classroom carnage. Indeed, many of the protests this time around are being driven by teenagers, including many most directly in the potential line of fire.
Yesterday, our Chris Walker previewed a March 24 "Walk for Our Lives" event being coordinated locally by nineteen-year-old Tay Anderson, the youngest candidate ever for a Denver Board of Education seat (he finished third) and lead organizer of the November 25 protest at Ink! Coffee over gentrification in Denver. He is now working as a legislative aide to state representative Jovan Melton.
