Judge Endorses Teenage Murder

Last week Federal Judge Robert E. Payne in Richmond, Va., ruled that age requirements on sales of semiautomatic handguns like Glock pistols are unconstitutional, allowing kids as young as 18 years old to buy these weapons and pack heat. Such weapons can fire as many as 15 or 22 rounds without reloading.

This comes at a time when gun violence is the number one cause of death for children and teens.

More:

“Judge in Virginia Strikes Down Federal Limit on Age of Handgun Buyers,” Glenn Thrush, New York Times

“18-to-20-year-olds can’t be barred from buying handguns, judge rules,” Salvador Rizzo, Washington Post

“Children and teens are more likely to die by guns than anything else,” Annette Choi, CNN

“Child and Teen Firearm Mortality in the U.S. and Peer Countries,” Matt McGough, Krutika Amin, Nirmita Panchal, and Cynthia Cox, KFF Global Health Policy

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Supreme Court Requires Blood Sacrifice

The Supreme Court of the United States thinks you should be able to carry a concealed handgun in public just because you think it’s cool and want to feel like a big shot. For over a century, New York had required gun owners to have a reason to carry a concealed weapon. Police issued concealed carry permits to business owners who carry bags of cash to a bank’s night deposit facility, those who had a demonstrable proper cause to be concerned for their personal safety, and so on. Now any dumb schmuck who hasn’t been caught committing a crime — yet — will be enabled to do so, with deadly consequences, thanks to six SCOTUS conservative ideologues. That doesn’t sound like a “well-regulated militia” to us.

What can you expect?

• More gunshot deaths, murders and suicides.
• More civilians killed by police, who will be more likely to assume that anyone they come into contact with is armed with a concealed deadly weapon.

More:

“Supreme Court strikes down New York’s concealed carry gun law,” Oriana Gonzalez, Axios

“U.S. Supreme Court expands gun rights, strikes down New York law,” Andrew Chung and Lawrence Hurley, Reuters

“Supreme Court strikes N.Y. law, finds right to carry guns outside home,” Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow, Washington Post

“SCOTUS Strikes Down New York Gun Control Law, Expanding Gun Rights In Wake Of Mass Shootings,” Kate Riga, Talking Points Memo 

 

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San Jose Requires Liability Insurance for Gun Owners

On Tuesday, the City Council of San José, California voted to require gun owners to carry liability insurance and pay an annual $25 fee for each weapon they own. The ordinance was drafted last year after a mass shooting at a transit station in the city.

“While the Second Amendment protects every citizen’s right to own a gun, it does not require taxpayers to subsidize that right,” said San José mayor Sam Liccardo in a statement.

U.S. states and DC require automobile drivers to obtain liability insurance or post cash bonds against liability, and motor vehicles, unlike firearms, aren’t even designed to be killing machines. Nowhere does the Second Amendment forbid a well-regulated program to ensure firearms responsiblity.

More:

“San Jose passes first U.S. law requiring gun owners to get liability insurance and pay annual fee,” CBS News

“A city will require gun owners to have liability insurance in an effort to incentivize safety,” Timothy Bella, Washington Post

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Suicide Gunman Kills Nine Americans

A gunman fatally shot nine co-workers in San Jose California on Wednesday before killing himself. According to police, the American firearms enthusiast had two semi-automatic handguns and 11 full magazines of ammunition. The American citizens he shot to death are: Paul Delacruz Megia, 42; Taptejdeep Singh, 36; Adrian Balleza, 29; Jose Dejesus Hernandez III, 35; Timothy Michael Romo, 49; Michael Joseph Rudometkin, 40; Alex Ward Fritch, 49; Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63; and Lars Kepler Lane, 63.

So far this year, the United States has experienced 15 mass murders (four or more people killed in each instance) and 232 mass shootings (four or more people injured or killed), and it’s not even Memorial Day.

More:

“Ten dead, including gunman, in San Jose rail yard mass shooting; victims identified,” Hayley Smith, Richard Winton, Maura Dolan, and Leila Miller, Los Angeles Times

“‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens,” The Onion

Updates:

“Heroic San Jose Victim ‘Ran Around Building’ Warning Colleagues to Hide From Shooter,” Jamie Ross, Daily Beast

“Molotov cocktails, guns and 25,000 rounds of ammo found in VTA shooter’s home: sheriff,” KTVU-TV News

“San Jose gunman had cans of gasoline, 22K rounds of ammo at home, officials say: What we know,” Christine Fernando, Christal Hayes, and Grace Hauck, USA Today

“San Jose mourns after deadliest shooting in region’s history: ‘We can’t sweep this under the rug,’” Abené Clayton, The Guardian

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Mass Shooting in Indianapolis Kills 8 People

A gunman murdered eight innocent human beings and injured at least seven others in Indianapolis, Indiana on Thursday before shooting himself dead. This is the third mass shooting in Indianapolis so far this year. Five people, including a pregnant woman, were killed in a January shooting, and three adults and a child were shot to death in March.

Indiana has some of the weakest gun laws in the United States, a country of lax gun safety laws and more guns than people, where there have been 45 gunshot mass murders in the last month, 147 in 2021 to date, more than one every day (details here).

So far in 2021, 12,421 people have been shot to death in the US, including 87 children under 12, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

More:

“‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens,” The Onion

“These are the victims of the Indianapolis FedEx mass shooting,” Fox 59 News

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Second Mass Shooting In a Week

Ten innocent people, including a police officer, were shot to death on Tuesday at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. Nine were random shoppers; the officer was responding to reports of the shooting. The murderer, wearing tactical clothing, was armed with an assault-style weapon he bought last week. Also last week: Boulder’s 2018 assault weapons ban was voided by a judge.

This follows a mass shooting in Atlanta last Tuesday, when eight people were murdered by a gunman who bought his high-capacity handgun the same day. Georgia is not among the 14 U.S. jurisdictions with a waiting period for guns purchases, to prevent such impulsive acts of violence.

More:

“‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens,” The Onion

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The Gekas Loophole

On April 16th, 21-year-old Dylann Roof was allowed to purchase a 45 caliber Glock handgun from retailer Shooter’s Choice of West Columbia SC, despite his arrest, indictment, and his pending trial for felony possession of a narcotic prescription drug. Why was this sale permitted? The FBI is taking the blame for an incomplete background check, but the purchase went through because of the gentleman pictured above, former Congressman George W. Gekas, who represented Pennsylvania’s 17th District for 20 years.

When the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was on the House floor in 1993, Rep. Gekas (R, PA-17) introduced Amendment 390, requiring a technologically impossible “instant background check” and, if the FBI couldn’t clear the purchaser within five days (later 3 days) then the sale could go through. This “Gekas Loophole” or “default proceed sale” provision was added, the bill passed, and President Clinton signed it into law.

Today, explains the New York Times‘ Michael S. Schmidt:

“Many major gun retailers, like Walmart, will not sell a weapon if they do not have an answer from the F.B.I., because of the fear of public criticism if the gun is used in a crime. The marginal sale of one gun means little to the bottom line of a large dealer, which is not the case for smaller stores like the one that sold Mr. Roof his gun.”