Trump and the Federal Commission on School Safety

I saw a Trump campaign ad featuring Andrew Pollack tonight. If you’re unaware, Pollack is the father of 18-year-old Meadow Pollack, a victim of the Parkland school shooting. In this ad Pollack mentions his daughter, as a picture of her appears on screen and talks about how she died. He goes on to blame Obama’s “restorative justice policies.”

I don’t believe that Mr. Pollack understands what restorative justice is.

In this video from the RNC you can hear an expanded version of why Mr. Pollack believes that restorative justice killed his daughter. Specifically, he believes that restorative justice means that the offender gets to blame someone else for their crime, in this case, the teachers.

This is simply untrue.

The offender in the Parkland shooting had no criminal record, but had many complaints against him that fell through the cracks because the school system and the Sheriff’s department didn’t have the time or the resources to evaluate and act on this young man’s mental health.

That’s not an excuse. He committed an atrocity, and, in my opinion, he deserves the death penalty. But all this loss of life could have been prevented.

Not with gun laws.

Not with more cops.

NOT with metal detectors and armed guards in the schools.

With trained professionals to handle and defuse difficult situations BEFORE a gunman shows up at a school.