In the aftermath of the attack in which a Freeman High School student shot and killed one student and wounded three others, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovic blamed a moral digression in society that makes such actions possible.
According to the Huffington Post, Knezovic made clear the shooting represents a societal problem, not a firearm problem. He said, “This is a situation that plays out in our society way too often, and we as a society need to make a determination as to what’s causing this.”
He then addressed parents who do not take time to stem the tide of hate when they see it stirring in their children’s hearts: “Where did we really go sideways in raising our kids? Perhaps we taught them to glorify the wrong things. All this violence that they constantly consume has come home to pay a major price. It is time for each and every one of us to say no more to the hate that we see, to the violence that we see.”
He criticized politicians, saying, “[Lawmakers on] both the right and the left, you’re both enamored by radicalized hate. You seem to hate everybody and everything. It’s time for you to end that too.”
And he blamed the establishment media for seizing on the names of school attackers and giving them the kind of coverage that makes them famous, saying, “This young gentleman got sucked into a counterculture of violence, a culture that is enamored with school shootings. And media, you are to blame for that, because you keep giving these people headlines. You keep using their names. You have made them heroes to some people. If I had my way, none of these people’s names would ever be remembered.”
In short, Knezovic made clear that Americans have always owned guns but young Americans have not always used guns to solve their problems or shoot their classmates. He said, “Guns didn’t change, we changed.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com