The former student charged with stalking and killing 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., wasn't a terrorist. From what we know now, he wasn't out to terrorize the population as a way of advancing a cause. He evidently was a disturbed misfit who'd been expelled from the school, who legally bought a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle, who set off the fire alarm so students would come out of classrooms.
We don't know his motive, but we raise the issue of terrorism here because these horrific mass shootings now happen so frequently that they demand a response on the same scale as the nation mustered after the Sept. 11 attacks.
When the World Trade Center towers fell, when airplanes crashed into a Pennsylvania field and the Pentagon, Americans mourned their dead and then acted. To fortify national security at airports, federal buildings, public venues. To revamp the nation's intelligence services and surveillance laws. To attack terrorist leaders and networks overseas.
This nation faces a comparable challenge to its resolve now.
Ryan Kadel, a 17-year-old Douglas High School senior who survived the Florida attack, spoke for millions of us: "I'm kind of surprised it happened here, but I'm not really shocked. School shootings happen all the time, and then the news just forgets about them." Another 17 victims, another 17 families.
We don't believe the carnage at schools, workplaces, churches and beyond is a status quo that Americans should accept.
When enough people grew incensed about deaths caused by drunken drivers, attitudes changed, and tougher laws followed. Driving while intoxicated was recognized as a public health menace. And drunken driving deaths plummeted.
Same for cigarette smoking. When enough people learned of the deadly risks, when enough complained about smoky offices, restaurants, bars and airplane cabins, the protests brought action. Lawmakers banned indoor smoking and millions kicked the habit.
These are not a perfect analogies. But here's the crux: Things change when enough Americans determine that they must. When people get outraged by these massacres and stay outraged.
Editorial on 02/20/2018