Latest Seattle School Shooting Shows Once Again Democrats Are Responsible

There was another shooting just outside Garfield High School in Seattle, this time taking the life of a 17-year-old. Without years of dogged progressive activism, the teen might not have died. It's a shame that Seattle Democrats have shown no interest in reversing the trend, ensuring that more dead teens will continue to devastate families.

Seattle police said there was a lunchtime altercation on June 7. The victim was shot several times in the chest. Some violence was recorded on a cell phone and broadcast on social networks. Despite lifesaving measures, the teen was pronounced dead at Harborview Medical Center. A source told me the victim may have been trying to broker a disagreement when he was killed.

Democratic politicians and the Seattle activists they support reacted exactly as they always do: blaming the guns. For the ideologically obsessed, the lack of school resource officers (SROs), lenient juvenile crime policies that allow gangs to roam free, and the message that guns are only dangerous when they are used by law-abiding citizens played no role.

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Why are Seattle Democrats partly responsible for the school shooting?

After the shooting, Mayor Bruce Harrell idly recited the same speech he always gives. He deplored the easy access to weapons.

“I can't use the word 'trauma' enough to describe what our children are going through,” Harrell said at a news conference that afternoon. “This isn’t the first Garfield shooting, and these kids deserve better.”

No, it's not the first shot, but it's the same response.

A student was shot and killed in March while waiting for her bus near campus. Last October and June, there were a number of shootings around campus, although they were not student-related.

On Friday, students, staff, parents and other community members held a “silent march” to protest gun violence. They should not remain silent. They should call for a reversal of some of the policies they called for that led to this.

Removal of school resource officers

In the wake of George Floyd's death, Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists and their Antifa army convinced local and state politicians to introduce “criminal justice reforms” that falsely implied that police officers represented a great risk for black residents. This has never been true, but Seattle activists have never missed an opportunity to exploit a national tragedy or news story for ideological purposes.

Seattle Public Schools (SPS), with support from Democratic politicians and activists, removed SROs from schools, saying they posed a threat and made students feel uncomfortable around armed officers . Are they more comfortable with classmates armed with gangbangers? Some of the student activists calling for security measures are the ones speaking out against SROs.

Although there have been brief moments where parents have called for the return of SROs to campus, conversations have petered out largely due to the refusal of SPS board members and Democratic politicians to admit their failures. Seattle's left-wing media doesn't seem willing to push the debate either.

Soft-on-crime policies, especially toward juvenile suspects

Dangerous young suspects belong in prison. But in Seattle and King County, in particular, they get a pass.

Rather than being sentenced to prison, they are pushed into “restorative justice” programs as an alternative. They rarely work because many of them are run by police and prison abolitionist groups who do not hold juveniles accountable. It takes an act of God to see a minor land in detention. This is by design.

Democratic lawmakers have been dismantling the criminal justice system as we have known it since 2020.

They passed a bill prohibiting police officers from speaking to juvenile suspects until an attorney is present, even if the suspect's parents demand that he speak to police. No lawyer lets his clients speak.

This law is certainly the reason why police have still made no progress in the case of a 15-year-old Chief Sealth International High School student who was fatally shot in the boys' restroom at a recreation center for youth. The three teenagers who accompanied the victim, Mobarak Adam, were not questioned due to Democratic law.

Do gangs exist if you Democrats don't recognize them?

Most Seattle Democrats and community activists remain silent on the gang problems plaguing the area. However, ask any police officer and they will tell you that gang-related crimes are rampant.

Since local gang members are disproportionately black and Latino, Democrats won't say much — they believe it will lead to racist assumptions about black and Latino teenagers. Conversely, it could be used to better target police and community resources, but Democrats prefer performative policy.

In Olympia, the Democrats don't even hide their agenda.

House Democrats pushed HB 1268. The bill reduces or, in some cases, repeals penalties for gun, drug and gang crimes committed near schools. In public testimony, it was argued that the rise of guns, drugs and gangs had “resulted in the incarceration of young black men from urban areas in a grossly disproportionate manner.”

These shootings are all linked to the failure of Democratic policies that they will not admit.

Even as Seattle Democrats blame guns, they could take concrete steps to save children's lives. And frankly, the students, staff and parents are not innocent here either.

Going after “guns” means you and I can't protect ourselves from the criminals Democrats keep from going to prison. Instead, there could be a collective demand for SROs to return to campus. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) presented two explosive reports analyzing the positive impact of SROs on school discipline and overall safety while reducing disciplinary problems.

Instead of marching silently to SPS headquarters, they could march to Olympia and demand a repeal of the soft-on-crime policies. Then they might stop by the King County District Attorney's office and demand that we throw the book at the violent teenage suspects. They can benefit from restorative justice in juvenile detention.

Finally, at Harrell's next press conference, maybe someone can ask him to come up with a plan to combat gang violence. If we don't put gang members in jail for using guns, what exactly does he think will keep us safe?

Listen to “The Jason Rantz Show” weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason on X, formerly known as TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

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