Judy: Let's return now to the
aftermath of the shootings in
uvalde, Texas, and some of the
questions the country is
grappling with.
As we reported, there will be
funerals and memorials for the
victims over the next two weeks.
As the communities and families
grieve, many are asking about
the police response on that day
and what should be done next.
>> Over the weekend, the U.S.
Apartment of justice announced
it is launching an investigation
of the law enforcement response
to the uvalde shooting.
To learn more about why that is
important, I'm joined by the
professor at the Harvard Kennedy
school of government and former
assistant secretary at the
department of homeland security.
She is also author of a new book
called "The devil never sleeps:
Learning to live in an age of
disasters."
Thanks for being with us.
This department of justice probe
we think will start soon.
Why do we need it?
What are some of the key
questions they will try to
answer?
>> This is done by an office
that deals with trainings and
grants and best practices.
What they essentially will do
technically is just review what
was the policy response and why
did it seem to fail so
miserably?
Police officers are well aware
of what active shooter response
is.
We now know the best way to
address and active shooter is to
eliminate the threat,
essentially shoot back and try
to eliminate the threat.
Everything else can happen after
that.
There was clearly a breakdown in
that protocol.
Was it a justifiable breakdown
-- or what led to happen to
this?
We say in disaster management
that the lessons are written on
the headstones and that we have
to listen to the dead, and I
think that is really important
right now, especially with 19
children dead and of course,
also two teachers.
Each of them has a story to tell
about what happened in that
room, and it is incredibly
painful and will be incredibly
emotional.
Not all of them died in a single
moment.
Not all of them died in the same
place.
To get essentially that
chronology of what happened in
that room so that we can learn
for the next time because
unfortunately, there will very
likely be a next time.
Our standard in disaster
management is -- could we have
made things less bad?
We do not pretend that a
situation in which a person
wants to shoot children in a
classroom is in any way good,
but could you have made it less
bad?
In the end, it is essential that
we look at the public safety
response, but we have already
failed miserably are your
children.
We cannot lose sight of the real
problem here, which is a gunman
wanted to and successfully
entered a classroom that would
kill children that quickly, that
horribly, just on a random day
in America.
>> The more we learn about the
gunman, we saw that there were
warning signs that were missed.
When we talk about concrete
steps, what kind of things could
be done to avoid this happening
again?
>> National red flag laws that
proved -- that permit family
members to come forward and tell
officials that a person is in
trouble or may be a harm to
society so that their guns are
not accessible to them.
It could be universal background
checks or changing the age at
which you can purchase weapons
like this from 18 to 21.
These people live in
communities.
They are online and are
expressing their desires.
They are not hiding it.
In the Texas case, this is also
true.
We need people to feel confident
to step forward, to understand
these are not jokes, and to have
social media platforms monitor
this better, to know that how
anyone can joke about this at
this stage in American history
is beyond question now.
We need to come forward and
assert agency over this kind of
activity.
Otherwise, it is going to keep
happening.
>> Thank.
>> Thank you.
-- >> Thank you.