While there is a long list of responses to mass shootings (watch list, eliminate AR15, etc), few if any of which if applied would stop the precipitating mass shooting, there are a few questions never reviewed seriously - did the government fail? Government fails at so many things, why not this? I am a bit suspect when a politician points the finger at someone other than themselves.
Multiple people reported Omar to the authorities, including a gun shop where Omar asked for body armor and a lot of bullets. FBI says there was nothing they could do without violating rights. Really? Maybe add 5,000 agents? Share data with local police? Perhaps the FBI could say "We failed". When I was at Boeing, we designed aircraft to work even when the mechanic failed to do their job correctly. Introspection makes things better.
Police show up on the scene often after the carnage. At Sandy Hook they showed up 20 mins after it started. Orlando there was a cop on scene, but he was taken by surprise (hard to hedge that), but it took them 3+ hours to breach. If you dig at these records, the details are always murky. Were the 50 killed in the first 5 mins or in hour 2? In a democracy shouldn't we know that answer?
If we are supposed to give up a constitutional right do we also get to ask how to improve police response? Is it even conceivable to put this tough of a burden on the police (Enter a building that might have IEDs without having time to evaluate). Might the brilliance of the second amendment be as simple as there were no police in 1776 to respond. If there were, they traveled miles by horse. Even today, might police responding have an impossible situation assessing the environment vs. someone who attends the bar, school, church regularly?
Can't we come up with some innovative solutions?
Politician's say it would have been worse if someone in the crowd had a conceal carry. Really? How do they know that? Even with google, I can't find an article "5 people killed by idiot conceal carry holder". Maybe we should consider some form of civil defense using conceal carry. We have probably 1M-2M citizens that have served in the military or otherwise been trained in weapons. Many conceal carry holders practice monthly, the police typically practice twice a year, and villains 23 times a year. Reservists are given 40 bullets per year to practice. A shooter can't stay qualified with 40 bullets a year. The NRA is extremely good at training people in gun safety. Perhaps training could resolve the politicians concern. Maybe citizens can provide more training resources to police.
We deployed simple devices in Iraq to pinpoint snipers. The devices can detect the unique sound of a gun shot miles away. They are incredibly cheap. What is preventing them in every major city, automatically triggering 911. Budget? Do a crowdfunding campaign. The system costs less than 500k. Frankly someone could probably incorporate it in a phone (Shazam) and give it away for free. How about an app that transmits your phone video and sound to police in real time - push a red button in facebook, twitter, snapchat, etc and cops get full situational awareness.
Innovation is faster than a constitutional amendment.
Before we fiddle with the Constitution or create secret lists, the government needs to be held accountable and explain their actions. If they want more power, they have to prove they wield it better than citizens. In the second amendment, the founders figured citizens were the best first responders. The government needs to prove they are better.
