MORE CORRUPT THAN I THOUGHT

“If it is not independent, it is not worthy of trust. Investigations have to have integrity and they have to have fairness. If they don’t have that, they are not dependable for anyone.”    John Dowd, Former MLB Special Council

Since Angela Dales’ murder at the Appalachian School of Law on January 16, 2002, we, as a nation, appeared to have lowered our standards so much that it is relatively easy for people with low intellect, little character, and a healthy dose of incompetence to buy the people we have put our trust in—our politicians, lawyers, and judges. When I did my research for this chapter the magnitude of the dishonesty and corruption hit me like a kick in the stomach. The situation is stunningly distressing.

VICTIMIZING THE VICTIMS

Just when you think the gun manufacturers and National Rifle Association (NRA) have sunk about as low as they can go, they come up with something even more outrageous: Make dead victims’ families pay court costs of any legal action.

The gun makers and NRA have long engaged in nefarious lobbying activity that has undercut public safety. Now they have persuaded politicians to adopt laws making the victims of gun violence pay the legal fees for challenging what appears to be their self-proclaimed, sacrosanct position above the law.

In September 2014, the Brady Center announced a lawsuit on behalf of Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, accusing Web site companies of negligence for selling weapons to the Aurora, Colorado theater shooter, James Holmes. The Phillips daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was killed in the shooting. The lawsuit charged the companies with negligence for selling weapons (including ammunition, body armor, tear gas and other equipment used in this assault) to someone as obviously unstable as Holmes. Holmes ended up killing 12 and wounding 70 others on July 20, 2012 at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

Senior U.S. District Judge Richard P. Matsch of the District of Colorado dismissed the Phillips’ suit against four Web sites because Colorado and federal laws shield firearms and ammunition sellers from liability based on a customer’s wrongful acts. Phillips et al. v. Lucky Gunner LLC et al., No. 14–cv–02822, 2015 WL 1499382 (D. Colo. Mar. 27, 2015).

Both federal and Colorado laws protect gun makers and sellers from being held responsible for selling arms to people who are a danger to themselves and others. Colorado, however, has taken this a step further, requiring plaintiffs to pay the court costs of the gun makers and sellers.

Lucky Gunner and Sportsman Guide (two of the companies selling to Holmes) have already filed motions for $220,000 in legal costs. According to press reports, another arms dealer, BTP Arms, wants $33,000. BTP Arms request will probably fail because the law does not cover the two tear gas grenades Holmes bought from BTP Arms, nor does the law cover the four pieces of body armor he bought from bulletproofbodyarmorhq.com.

The Phillips’ lawsuit underscores the reality that the average citizen is nearly helpless in the face of the wealth and power of the NRA, gun manufacturers, and gun sellers. The Phillips’ lawsuit is a shocking example of just how disadvantaged the average citizen is. The average citizen has virtually no recourse against the power elite—weapons manufacturers and the gun lobby.  (To be continued)

THE LONG, HARD ROAD

It has now been nearly two weeks since the terrible murders in Las Vegas and for many of the victims who survived and all the families involved, the horror continues. The closing of the deep wounds that were opened that day has not begun and will not begin for months and even years.

Some well-meaning, but unintentionally unkind individuals talk about the healing process. But there is no real healing from these shootings. There is a long, painful scaring process in which people learn to live with the reality that their child, spouse, friend, or acquaintance was murdered. It will be a long time before the scabs cover the wounds and eventually the wounds scar over. 

One of the most infuriating and feeble attempts to comfort is to say, “We know where he or she is.” No you don’t. You know nothing of the kind. All these statements do is enable the person or persons saying them to go home and sleep and feel warm and cozy. It is, in fact, one of the cruelest things anyone can say to a parent whose child has been murdered or to man or woman whose spouse has been gunned down.

Families and survivors of this gun violence do not need to be preached to—they need to be listened to.

There are parents, spouses, and friends of those killed in Las Vegas who may need a lifetime of psychological counseling. That is the case in other mass shootings.

If you really want to help, then you can begin by listening to the people who grieve. They need to talk about the person lost or permanently maimed; they need to get their minds back to the point where they can think; they need to try in some way to make sense of the new, terrible reality in which they live. 

And if you REALLY want to help, you will not only listen but speak out against the absurdity of selling automatic weapons to anyone without question; you need to push for laws to curb the power of the NRA and gun manufacturers.

SCHOOL SHOOTINGS: HONING THE LIES

Since Angie Dales’ murder fifteen years ago at the Appalachian School of Law, a small fortune has been spent on electronic security equipment to improve school safety, giving the public a false sense of security.

In most of the school shootings I have examined it is the human factor that is the critical flaw, not the policies or the warning systems. Yes, the later two needed improvement and more needs to be done. But it was a breakdown in the decision making process on the part of one or more human beings that sealed the fate of most of the victims.  At the Appalachian School of Law, its President brushed aside calls for campus security. At Virginia Tech, the school’s President and Police Chief not only broke the school’s security policies, but they violated the basic tenets of crime scene investigation and procedures and did not warn. Everywhere I look at a school shootings it always comes back to human flaw: incompetence coupled with bad judgment.

The most notable progress I can see since Angela Dales was murdered in January of 2002, is the ability and willingness of people to obfuscate, manipulate words, and cover-up. This shell games and lies has set the stage for the most disappointing of all the revelations in the last fifteen plus years, the corruption in our legal and judicial systems. I will discuss these topics in future posts. (To be continued)

FOR SOME, IT IS TOO LATE

Following every gun massacre, politicians say this is “not the time” to discuss the problem. Who are they kidding? It is the perfect time to discuss gun violence. If not now, then when is the time to discuss ways to curb gun violence? These same politicians never say “when” they are willing to have a serious discussion about ending the carnage. The real problem is our politicians petrified of the NRA and gun manufacturers.

For 58 people attending an open-air concert in Las Vegas it is too late. It is too late for the those wounded and killed at Virginia Tech, for the dead and injured at the Orlando nightclub, for the children and teachers and families at Sandy Hook, and for the mother of my oldest grandchild who was one of those killed at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia. How many more slaughters are needed until “the time is right?”

After every tragedy there is a national dialog about what happened and what needs to be done—after hurricanes, after 9/11, and after floods—but not after mass shootings. Why not? Those in positions of responsibility don’t have the backbone or decency to tell the public when the time is right for them to discuss the killing of innocent children, moviegoers, concert attendees, or people shopping in malls.

Ah, the sacrosanct second amendment and our right to own guns. Apparently the rights to life, liberty and happiness of those killed in these shootings mean nothing compared to a mentally ill person’s right to kill and maim. And, since January 2017 Congress passed legislation making it easier for people who are mentally ill to own guns—some of these people who can now legally buy automatic weapons are so ill they cannot handle their finances—they cannot write a check, but they can buy a rapid-fire weapon.

I would like someone to show me where in the Second Amendment anyone is given the right to indiscriminately kill others. All the amendments to the Constitution have limitations. The first amendment gives us freedom of speech, but I cannot slander someone or use foul language. The Second Amendment should have limitations aimed at preventing shooting rampages. And NOW is the time to talk about it.

Other countries such as Great Britain, Australia and Canada have laws and policies in place that have helped dramatically curb mass shootings. There is nothing that can prevent all of this violence from taking place. But measures have been adopted elsewhere that have drastically cut incidents of gun violence.

In medicine just because you cannot cure all ills, does not mean you stop trying—the same is true about gun violence. Just because you cannot prevent all shootings doesn’t mean you stop trying to curb their number and extent. (To be continued)

WILLIAMSBURG BOOK FESTIVAL

Writers Guild of Virginia members and High Tide authors David Cariens, Cindy Freeman, Ed Lull, Peter Stype, and Judy Zummo will participate in the Williamsburg Book Festival tomorrow, October 7th. The Festival is being held at the Styker Center, 412 N. Boundary Street in Williamsburg. High Tide publications will be represented by Narielle Living who is participating on a publishers' panel and by Jeanne Johansen, one of the founders of High Tide. The Festival takes place from 10:00 and 4:00 p.m.

SCHOOL SHOOTINGS: WILLFUL BLINDNESS

Willful blindness is a term used in criminal law referring to someone who intentionally fails to be informed about matters that would make the person criminally liable. The phrase describes an “attempt to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally putting oneself in a position to be unaware of facts which create liability.” Willful blindness often masquerades as “I don’t remember,” “I don’t recall,” or “I forget.”

 “Willful blindness” is conscious avoidance of the truth.  Unfortunately, the conscious avoidance of the truth has been a prime characteristic of authorities in Virginia before, during, and after both school shootings in the old Dominion. In the case of the Appalachian School of Law, school authorities feigned lack of knowledge the killer was violent, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

In the case of Virginia Tech, school officials made similar claims. The loss of memory on the part of police, health care, and school authorities reached near epidemic authorities. Dr. Cathye Betzel, a licensed clinical psychologist, cannot remember her conversation about Cho’s disturbing behavior with English Department Chairperson Lucinda Roy. Professor Roy remembers it quite well.

Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum remained silent for months about the timing of when Virginia Tech had a person of interest following the double homicide in West Ambler Johnston Hall. The discrepancy (the school said it identified a person of interest before 7:30 a.m. when in fact it was approximately an hour later), gave the school a fig leaf excuse for not locking down and warning.

Virginia Tech’s Police Chief Flinchum’s lie of omission made it all the way into the first version of the Governor’s Review Panel Report. Lying by omission, also known as exclusionary detailing, is defined as lying by either omitting certain facts or by failing to correct a misconception.

If you read the transcript of the trial against Virginia Tech in the suit of the Pryde and Peterson families who lost their daughters on April 16, 2007, the school and police officials repeatedly cannot remember, or do not recall this or that. It is as if collective dementia struck Blacksburg and the Virginia Tech campus with a vengeance.  (To be continued)