Taxpayer money for families of victims?

Discussion in 'Budget & Taxes' started by kazenatsu, Oct 21, 2021.

  1. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    This issue could just as easily belong in the Law & Justice section, but I decided to put it in the Budget & Taxes section because it is ultimately an issue about how public money is spent.


    Broward County Public Schools agreed to pay $25 million to the families of the 17 fatal victims of the Feb. 14, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting.​


    The victims are dead. The one responsible, a 19-year-old teen, is going to at least get life in prison and is looking at the death penalty.

    Yet somehow there are people who think money will right the wrongs and help bring justice???

    This money is ultimately coming from the TAXPAYERS, and not only that but the money cannot go to the actual victims because they are DEAD.

    How does this make any sense at all????

    The families of the victims deserve money from the rest of society because they lost their children? Is that the rationale?
    What an entitled society we have become.
     
  2. Chrizton

    Chrizton Well-Known Member

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    Children are basically forced to attend school by the government. By doing so, the government is responsible for their safety when they are there. In this case, the government not only failed to provide a safe place for the children, they put them at greater risk by letting this known nut job be unchecked.

    That said, the only reason Broward County is having to pay this money is because Broward County decided to self-insure instead of buying liability coverage i.e. they were cheapskates who got caught with their pants down.
     
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  3. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Oh really? What could the government realistically have done to prevent this?
    That sort of reasoning just seems stupid to me.

    Anyone could go into a mall and start killing people, does that make the mall responsible for those deaths?
    How about someone goes on a killing spree in a restaurant. Is the restaurant responsible?
    This is just stupid.

    If anything maybe the parents should be suing the government for having gun free school zones. And the remedy for that would be to undo those laws, rather than payouts of money.
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2021
  4. Chrizton

    Chrizton Well-Known Member

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    Well you are entitled to your opinion, but the state legislature of Florida found that " (The) negligence of the School Board of Broward 34 County contributed to the damages suffered as a result of the events of February 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, to the extent that School Board of Broward County personnel had information regarding the risk of Nikolas Cruz committing acts of physical harm and violence toward others but failed to take reasonably appropriate action to protect the campus from Nikolas Cruz; were unprepared to deal with repeat trespassers and intruders on campus, such as former students like Nikolas Cruz; were unprepared to address armed intruders on campus; failed to prevent Nikolas Cruz from entering the campus and failed to intercept Nikolas Cruz once he did enter; and were unprepared to respond in the event of an active shooter on campus.”

    Now the short answer to your question of what could they have done is they could have done their job.
     
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  5. Just A Man

    Just A Man Well-Known Member

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    Better yet spend the money by giving the police and the military a raise.
     
  6. Capt Nice

    Capt Nice Well-Known Member

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    Control of local government, including schools, is regulated by the local citizen population. These positions of responsibilities are appointed by the local citizens. If it's determined that the people you elect to govern these different agencies don't handle their responsibilities properly and contribute to an incident where their partial negligence could be a contributing factor they might be considered partially liable for damages. Unfortunately the only commodity there is for settling damages in civil matters is money. You the tax payer pays the bill.
     
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  7. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Please tell us exactly what they should have done. Hired armed security guards?

    And you don't see how gun control policies and federal laws (gun free school zones) is responsible for this at all?

    This is insane, illogical, absurd and ridiculous.

    The school is no more "responsible" than I would be if, as a father, I failed to take "adequate" measures to protect my children from an intruder and one of my children ended up being murdered in the house at night.

    And if these elected representatives are only enacting policies that the majority of the public supports, and these policies end up contributing to an incident, then should it not be the voting public itself who is seen as being "responsible"?

    Need I remind you that the actual victims are dead and cannot be compensated?
    (Well, maybe except for putting them in a nice casket)
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2021
  8. Kranes56

    Kranes56 Banned

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    Because it has nothing to do with entitlement. It’s a way to participate in governance. Going to court and saying the government owes you something isn’t anything new. Rather it’s a way of holding the government accountable. The government didn’t do its job? Sue them. It’s built into the system to make sure governments aren’t held in check by just elections. Rather citizens have a wide range of tools to hold the government accountable.
     
  9. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Normally I would agree, but in this particular case the substantial and numerous warning signs that Cruz exhibited far in advance of the shooting that he was a danger were ignored literally because his last name made him look like a minority to the bureaucrats who were afraid that taking any sort of action might be viewed as racist. The school district administrators let this shooting happen because they were more concerned about being politically correct than preventing violence and in this case they are absolutely responsible for it happening.
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2021
  10. Chrizton

    Chrizton Well-Known Member

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    Strange you think that to be a victim one has to be dead and since you just last week were boohooing for the innocence of a truck driver who killed four people. I am inclined to believe that nobody is guilty of anything in your mind.
     
  11. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    No, of course not, but that argument was only for victims who happen to be dead.

    I think you're trying to conflate two different things together here. You are talking about punishment. The topic of this thread is compensation, specifically money paid by government / taxpayers.

    I think there may actually be a common theme here to my opinions on these different issues. It is an issue of responsibility. It seems to me people like you are trying to see responsibility and assign blame where none really exists (or trying to assign a grossly excessive degree of blame).
    (I'm also against the felony murder legal doctrine, yet another topic)
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2021

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