So the FBI is being blamed for dropping the ball on the FL shooter....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. They don't want to talk about guns, either.

Granted, whoever got the tip should have passed it on to the Miami field office, and they need to examine their procedures to be sure this sort of information doesn't fall through the cracks again. However, if it had been passed on, what would Miami have done with it? The FBI has jurisdiction over only federal crimes or crimes that occur across state lines. The tipper apparently said Cruz was a weird, creepy guy who liked guns and knives and talked about killing. If that tip did not suggest he had committed or was likely to commit a crime within their jurisdiction, what would the FBI have done with the tip? They'd have passed it on to the local cops - who already knew about him because they'd received some 30 complaints about his behavior.

And what could they have done? Nothing, unless he'd made a specific threat against a specific person or persons, or if he'd threatened suicide. In those cases a person can be taken into custody, but not otherwise. He bought the gun legally, so they couldn't have confiscated it. They weren't going to follow him every minute. Maybe they could have warned the school to look out for him, but it sounds like the school already was aware that he was a problem.

Blaming the FBI or local law enforcement isn't just an excuse to pick on Wray; it's a matter of looking for a scapegoat so they don't have to talk about guns.