Florida high school shooter was on school rifle team funded by the NRA: 'He was a very good shot'

[brooklynite]

Source: New York Daily News

The troubled teen who brutally killed 17 people at his old high school in Florida was an avid member of a rifle team supported by a grant from the National Rifle Association, bringing the country's largest gun lobby into the spotlight of a tragedy it has tried to avoid.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, was a member of the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. before he was expelled for disciplinary reasons last year.

Cruz, wielding an AR-15 assault rifle, stormed into the small-town school and savagely murdered his former classmates and teachers on Wedneseday afternoon. The twisted teen was arrested about an hour after the first shots rang out wearing a maroon shirt emblazoned with the logo of his old school's JROTC program.

Records reveal that the NRA gave that very program a $10,827 grant in 2016, when Cruz was still on the squad. Ex-cadets on the program described Cruz as an excelling marksman.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/fla-high-school-shooter-school-rifle-team-funded-nra-article-1.3825391

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It's nice to have a hobby.....

[gopiscrap]

1. why in the fuck does the NRA get to fund this shit

keep these terrorist assholes out of our schools

[AtheistCrusader]

3. This is actually the NRA's core, original mission.

In the Civil War, we (the north) didn't do well at first, because marksmanship was not a skill we valued as much as the south. Different economies, different skillsets. When we (the north) still relied upon subsistence hunting, the technological level was different. The south maintained that sort of skill, and the technological level leaped forward with rifled bores, giving the projectile spin, making them more accurate.

Union Army records for the Civil War indicate that its troops fired about 1,000 rifle shots for each Confederate soldier hit, causing General Burnside to lament his recruits: "Out of ten soldiers who are perfect in drill and the manual of arms, only one knows the purpose of the sights on his gun or can hit the broad side of a barn."[17][18][19] The generals attributed this to the use of volley tactics, devised for earlier, less accurate smoothbore muskets.[20][21]

35% of the troops engaged at Gettysburg never even fired their weapon because they didn't know how, or didn't properly load it.

Basically we sucked. The NRA was built by the Union to ensure the populace didn't have that happen again. We almost LOST the Civil War because we didn't have this skillset.


All this lobbying shit, and NRA buying politicians, these things are new and we probably all agree, unhealthy aspects of the NRA. But the thing they are doing, funding and providing training to rifle clubs, this is core, original, true on-mission work. This is what the NRA is for.

[Scarsdale]

19. John McCain

has taken over $7 MILLION fro NRA groups. Rubio has taken over $4 million. These numbers should be published in every newspaper in this country, so people know who NOT to vote for, if they want gun laws tightened.

[murielm99]

25. When I was a kid the NRA was about gun safety

and responsibility. They were not political.

We had neighbors who were members. Of course, it was more rural where I lived then.

My dad was okay with the NRA. He did not have a gun at home and did not hunt, even though he grew up on the farm. He said that he had had enough of guns when he was in the army during WWII.

They would have been okay if they had not changed.

[AtheistCrusader]

31. Yeah, they've become hyper-political.

And seem to be driven by money and nothing more. When the NRA became beholden to gun manufacturers, it was off the rails.

[UpInArms]

2. Killed 17 and wounded how many?

What an “excellent marksman”

[brooklynite]

4. In a related development.....

A JROTC Freshman Sacrificed Himself To Help Classmates Escape During Florida Shooting

When an expelled former student opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, Peter Wang used the last minutes of his life to help save his fellow students.

According to witnesses, the 15-year-old freshman member of the school’s JROTC program “was holding a door to let other students out before him” as suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz prowled the halls of his former alma mater, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.

Wang was among the 17 people shot and killed by Cruz. His cousin, Lin Chen, told the Sun-Sentinel that Wang was wearing his standard grey JROTC shirt when he left for school that fateful morning.

https://taskandpurpose.com/peter-wang-florida-shooting-victim/

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. another hero

So young.
These stories are heart wrenching and haunting.

[IronLionZion]

11. Not much media coverage of Peter Wang's heroism

Dude was 15 and gave up his life to help his classmates from All-American terrorism. Trump would probably have him deported even though he was born in Brooklyn.

[pwb]

6. 19 and still in high school ?

[tammywammy]

8. A lot of parents redshirt kids

Hold them back another year before entering kindergarten

[mopinko]

9. yeah, that struck me too.

wtf? you would think a student in that situation would be getting some serious intervention.

[dembotoz]

18. a lot depend on when the birthday falls

some kids going into kindergarten are pretty much a year older than others depending on enrollment cut offs

[pstokely]

23. you can be 21 in some states

nt

[pwb]

24. Or he could be a ????

You didn't really catch the thought I had. It was more like a kid who thought a gun was a substitute for a brain. He didn't need an education to hate. You know the opposit of what is right.

But yea he could have been normal ?.

[murielm99]

26. One of the shooting survivors said

that the shooter was not allowed on campus on his own because he was over eighteen. That makes sense to me. Also, this person was expelled previously.

People who show up in our local schools have to go to the office and get a pass or badge. I had my son help me with a classroom project when I was teaching here. I had to clear it with the principal, introduce him to my son, and have my son go to the office to sign in before he could walk down the hallway to my classroom.

[moriah]

30. He was expelled the prior year, w/o graduating.

So probably turned 18 the February 2017 he bought the AR-15. Don't know if they state if he was a junior or senior in his last year.

However, many states still allow kids to complete their diplomas until 21, even if it's not compulsory to attend after 16 or 17.

[Fred Sanders]

7. The tentacles of the NRA are everywere, not just campaign money. Ads, propaganda, dark money, shit

like this.

NRA spent over $400 million last year. Almost one BILLION last three years on all kinds of mischief. Where do they get that money?

[Scarsdale]

20. Hey, it COSTS to buy

politicians and their votes! Listen to the politicians saying "Now is not the time to talk about gun control" "Mentally ill people do things like this" Anything but gun control, is fair game. THESE are the guys padding their bank accounts with NRA cash. Bought and paid for ghouls.

[Bengus81]

21. That's all I've heard out of them for the last two days..............nt

[ffr]

10. So all indications were that he was a responsible gun owner.

Weapons of war need to be banned from general public use, just like M80's and explosives are.

[IronLionZion]

12. It taught him discipline and responsibility

just like the Air Force guy in the Texas church. I'm glad that all of these responsible gun owners have no problem having others pay the ultimate price of freedom. Freedom isn't free. It's quite expensive.

Pro-life. All lives matter.

[hatrack]

13. Gosh, he sure was, wasn't he!

We all found that out Wednesday . . .

[SunSeeker]

14. Fucking disgusting.

[Aristus]

15. What bullshit...

With an AR-15 and a large-capacity magazine, one doesn't need to be a good shot. Just point and spray...

Every trigger-pull means another dead body.

[Kaleva]

16. This is the kind of thing the NRA used to be known for before it went of the deep end politically.

[OnDoutside]

17. Mass murderer funded by the NRA.....Headlines you wish they'd use.

[Calista241]

22. The NRA will tell you that their core mission is to teach people how to safely

And responsibly use firearms.

When i was a kid in the 90’s, i talked my parents into sending me to camp for 2 weeks over the summer. We learned crafts, went hiking and camping, told ghost stories, played 4 square, learned horseback riding, swam in the lake, and basically had the best time a 10-12 year old could possibly have over the summer.

For 1 day in the middle on those 2 weeks, several NRA instructors came to teach all of us about gun usage. They brought some .22 rim fire bolt action rifles, and we each sat through a class, watched a demonstration, and finally got to shoot at a target that was maybe 5-8 yards away. I remember hitting the target with 3 out of my 6 shots, and being so proud. We each kept our target, compared them to determine who was the best, and hung them up in our cabins. I took my target home, and i bet my parents still have it somewhere.

[underpants]

27. Sunrise Tactical Supply

[exboyfil]

28. Full Metal Jacket

"Where did these individuals learn how to shoot?"

"In the Marines Sir"

[Dave Starsky]

29. With an AR-15, you don't need to be a good shot.

In the same way that you don't need to be a knife expert to use a Milwaukee Sawzall.