The turn of the century has brought many changes to American culture and the common-sense world we once enjoyed. One of the most controversial and large-scale changes is the political correct landscape that everyone must cultivate. Political correctness is everywhere. It drives the media, and the media drives it. It determines what flags we fly, when we fly them and how we fly them. Political correctness attempts to censor entertainment, dumb down education and criticize patriotism and religion. Political correctness runs rampant in America and is everywhere, even in the midst of the gun control issue. The prelude to the tragic Florida school massacre, and its aftermath, exposes the fallacies of political correctness in governmental policies.

After the shooting, many people have asked the question, “How could this happen again?” The redundant question is especially obvious in this instance because of the assailant’s troubled past. In an interview with the Washington Post, one teacher said, “I can say I was so uncomfortable around him, I did not want to be alone with him in my classroom. That is how disruptive his behavior was.” Several students said there was no surprise that Cruz was the shooter. Additionally, Cruz’s behavior was so concerning that he was forbidden, as a student, to carry a backpack. Cruz claimed he wanted to be a school shooter, yet the FBI could not track down the internet comments to Cruz. With the damaging evidence that Cruz needed some serious attention from authorities, how can 17 people be dead at his hands? The answer is simply political correctness in President Obama’s governmental policies.

In 2013, President Obama created the Promise Program. The program is implemented in Broward County schools, among others, and is intended to keep minorities out of jail. The idea is that minorities are incarcerated at a higher rate than whites. The program encourages schools to, “reduce exclusionary disciplinary practices while implementing prevention and intervention programs for children and youth who are neglected, delinquent or at-risk”. Unfortunately, according to Manhattan professional in school discipline and reform, Max Eden, “schools feel pressure to underreport or not report serious incidents committed by students”. It seems like underreporting played a role in Cruz’s actions.

After the tragedy, many have attempted to cast blame and find answers; however, much of the dialogue is doused in political correctness. It has been established that Cruz was not diagnosed appropriately, and law enforcement officials possibly dropped the ball; unfortunately, this is discussed at a minimum. Once again the NRA has taken the brunt of the blame. The NRA is a business organization that had nothing to do with Cruz’s mental state. The NRA, along with numerous liberal organizations, appeals to Congress to enact policies beneficial to it. The NRA did not ignore the signs that would have saved 17 precious lives. Sadly, the political correct thing to do is blame the institution responsible for endorsing the 2nd Amendment and keeping guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens, police officers, military, security guards, hunters, fathers and mothers. The laws were in place to keep Cruz from shooting schoolchildren. The security guards were armed and in place. The local and federal law enforcement were armed with the needed information on Cruz. This is what failed. Not the NRA. Unfortunately, the political correct view is to blame the NRA or unbalanced jails. True gun control and safety will come when society and government shuns political correctness for old-fashioned common sense and truth.