DRAWING SCRUTINY:
Meanwhile, D.C. anti-gun violence rally hits a bump
Senate committee will examine law enforcement breakdowns surrounding shooting.
WASHINGTON — A Senate committee this month will examine law enforcement breakdowns surrounding the school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, RIowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday that the panel will hold a March 14 hearing to examine the role of federal and local authorities, as well as social-media companies, in not preventing the attack.
“The FBI and local law enforcement failed to act on credible tips that should have neutralized the killer and gotten him help,” Grassley said Thursday at panel meeting.
Meanwhile, a planned rally against mass shootings can’t be held in Washington this month because it conflicts with what’s described in a National Park Service permit application as a “talent show.”
A permit application filed last week by survivors of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School indicated the “March For Our Lives” rally will be on March 24, with up to 500,000 attendees expected. Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the Park Service, said organizers proposed holding the event on the National Mall but were looking to move the rally to another location after the request conflicted with a film crew’s permit.
Litterst said the film permit was “from a student group at a local educational institution,” but he wouldn’t name the institution because “applications from educational institutions are withheld from release for privacy reasons,” he wrote in an email.
A redacted Park Service permit application this week given to The Washington Post showed the application is for a “student project” related to “filming for a talent show.”
The name and contact information for the permit applicant was redacted. The title of the contact was listed as “director.” The title of the applicant was listed as “filming director.”
Discussing the upcoming hearings at the Capitol, Grassley said Judiciary Committee staff members have been briefed by the FBI as well as by “social media companies like Google and Facebook” on the circumstances that led up to the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Nikolas Cruz, who is charged in the massacre, allegedly delivered warnings on social media networks and in comments to classmates and others that foreshadowed the attack that left 14 students and three faculty members at his former school dead.
“It has been clear from these briefings that the systems designed to prevent troubled individuals like the Parkland Shooter from engaging in violent acts failed miserably,” Grassley said. “Government must be held accountable for its mistakes. It is also clear that private companies can do more to prevent future mass shootings by identifying threatening content and warning law enforcement officials.”
Grassley made the announcement at a hearing scheduled to quickly refer a slate of judicial nominees to the full Senate. But it became a back-and-forth between Grassley and the panel’s senior Democrats, who called for faster action to curb gun violence and complained that the committee had shirked from other duties such as immigration reform.
The committee meeting came a day after Grassley and other lawmakers met with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss action on new gun legislation.
The “March For Our Lives” rally, funded in part by Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities, will include “student speakers, musical performers, guest speakers and video tributes,” according to the permit application, with 14 Jumbotrons, 2,000 chairs and 2,000 portable restrooms. The film crew’s plans for the Mall were more modest, listing equipment such as two tables, two bikes and jump ropes.
March For Our Lives organizers didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Permits for the Mall are processed in the order they are received, Litterst said, and the number of attendees or ideology of groups involved aren’t factors in their approval.