Rep. Steve Scalise says "big signs were missed" in Florida school shooting
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, says many warning signs were missed by law enforcement and the FBI before a former student allegedly opened fire at a high school in the Parkland, Florida, killing 17 people. Scalise told "CBS This Morning" that serious questions remain for the FBI in light of a tip received about Nikolas Cruz, the suspected Florida school shooter, back in January 2018 that failed to ever be investigated.
"We have some breakdowns at the local and federal law enforcement level, clearly a lot of us have serious questions about the FBI and why this wasn't stopped in the first place when they had this kid handed to them on a silver platter months ago," Scalise told CBS on Tuesday.
He added, "In cases like this shooting and many others, multiple laws were already broken but worse than that, big signs were missed in many cases by the government itself and the fact the government missed so many of the signs and didn't do the things they should've done to protect people is one of the reasons people feel they should have a need to protect themselves and their family."
Scalise was a victim of a shooting himself, surviving a gunshot wound to the hip when a gunman opened fire on members of a congressional baseball team at a practice in Alexandria, Virginia, last June. The House Majority Whip underwent several surgeries and was hospitalized for over a month as a result of his grave injuries.
Scalise later told CBS News' Norah O'Donnell on 60 Minutes doctors had to literally put him back together again after suffering such extensive internal damage from the shooting.
The Republican met with student survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Capitol Hill on Monday, where he said they talked about their "shared experiences."
"Obviously it got very emotional, some of the things they've been through were similar to the things I've been through and this is going to be a tough time for them, it already is."
He added, "But this doesn't go away, it's something I know me and the other members of the congressional baseball team still talk about what we went through and I'm sure they as students are going to talk about what they went through."
Scalise said he supports the student activists engaging in the political process and he urged them to talk through their experiences as survivors and to not "repress" their feelings once they return back home.
He said while the group did discuss some policy-related issues, the focus for Congress should be about closing loopholes in existing gun laws like the instant background check system.
"We passed a bill in the House called "Fix NICS" which a lot of people are rallying around that closes a lot of those loopholes with the instant background check system," he said.
Scalise said that while the measure was successful in passing in the House, it shows signs of having more progress in the Senate. President Trump has since signaled he would be open to lending his support to such a measure, which aims to fix the way in which existing background checks can prevent firearm purchases by those who present possible red flags to state and local authorities.