Some of the people around Cruz were alarmed by signs that he might do something violent, and they called in tips to the agency, which did not investigate. ![]() Let’s examine one of the implications of this trend a little more in-depth: law enforcement investigations of “suspicious” individuals.” After the Parkland attacks, there was a discussion about the FBI’s failure to detect shooter Nikolas Cruz ahead of time. But it is also undoubtedly the case that the widespread availability of guns makes police much jumpier than they otherwise would be and quicker to shoot. There are a lot of problems behind our nation’s tragically high rate of unnecessary police shootings, including racism, poor training, and the militarization of our police. Security experts know that if you harden some targets, attackers just go for the softer ones. More armed police and guards at more and more civilian gatherings, potentially down to every Little League game and church picnic - authorities whose very presence will change the character of American life, and who are also likely to assert their power in numerous ways, make everything into a law enforcement issue, and generally bring the government into a lot of situations in American life where the government has not traditionally meddled.A growth in databases, watch lists, investigations, and background checks that set the government rummaging around in our personal lives.The pressure to install such systems, inside our schools and out, will only increase if mass shootings continue to happen regularly. ![]() We have seen at least two school districts in the United States - in Arkansas and the state of New York - vote to adopt comprehensive surveillance systems that include blanket video surveillance, tracking, face recognition, and the ability of law enforcement to tap into the system. This decision by the school cost students the fundamental personal privacy of being able to carry books, medicines, and other intimate items without exposing them to public view. Call it the “airportization of American life.” To pick one telling example: After the Parkland shooting, students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were barred from carrying backpacks, except those that are clear and permit the contents inside to be seen. ![]() Increased physical searches, including ever-expanding checkpoints, bag searches, magnetometers, body scanners, pat downs, and more.Intrusions already in play or proposed as a result of mass shootings include: If Americans continue to increasingly think of each of their fellow citizens, including children, as a potentially mortal threat at every public gathering, this fear will inevitably lead to more and more government reach into American life. Like calluses responding to friction, government power builds up where threats are perceived. When particular security threats arise (real or perceived), societies respond - through policy, behavior, and architecture. Throughout history, people who live in warlike times and places have built walls, while residents of peaceful kingdoms have tended to live without them. Mass shootings create a pervasive sense of insecurity and anxiety that politicians and policymakers will inevitably seek to address. Advocates for expansive gun rights who are serious in their concern over expanded government powers might consider how this is the case. But we do care about freedom, and I have noticed a growing trend: the wide availability of guns and their misuse leading to restrictions on Americans’ freedom. Overall, the ACLU does not generally engage in either side of the gun control issue. ![]() My colleague Louise Melling has laid out the ACLU’s views on guns here - that while gun regulations must be unbiased and subject to due process protections, the Constitution does permit limits on firearms sale and ownership. One of the principal arguments that firearms advocates advance against restrictions on guns is freedom: Americans ought to be free to own guns, and free to defend ourselves, and that broad ownership of guns by citizens is a check against the possibility of oppression by our own government. In recent months, the nation has been debating gun control issues with renewed intensity.
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