12/7/22  Oregon’s tough new gun laws are on hold while court challenges proceed. If the law survives, buyers will have to pass fingerprint and background checks and complete a training course. Magazines with more than ten round capacity will also be prohibited, but existing ones may continue to be used. Unlike Federal law, there is no “loophole” that mandates gun transfers if a background check takes too long. With such restrictions on the horizon, gun sales have soared.

6/16/22  John Hinckley, the would-be Presidential assassin who was found not guilty by reason of insanity forty-one years ago, has been fully released from official supervision. His bullets lightly wounded President Ronald Reagan but paralyzed Press Secretary James Brady.

5/23/22  In 1981 John Hinckley’s bullets lightly wounded President Reagan, a police officer and a secret service agent. But they paralyzed Press Secretary James Brady. A jury adjudged Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity and he was confined to a mental hospital. By 2000 Hinckley was doing home visits, and in 2016 he was conditionally released to live with his mother. Last year a court found him stable and compliant, and Hinckley’s remaining restrictions are set to be lifted next month. Wikipedia

10/29/21  On October 28 the Justice Department agreed to settle a multi-million dollar lawsuit brought by the families of the nine victims of Dylan Roof, who perpetrated the 2015 South Carolina church massacre. Roof was able to acquire his gun at retail because an FBI background checker did not follow through to determine the disposition of his recent drug arrest in time to prevent the gun’s delivery.

10/15/21  After six months on the job, Miami PD Chief Art Acevedo was fired by unanimous vote of city commissioners, whom he once accused of interfering in an internal investigation. A typical sentiment was that his “personality and leadership style are incompatible with the structure of our city’s government.” Officers also considered him brusque and unyielding, and his vaccination mandate had made no friends.

10/2/21  Miami PD Chief Art Acevedo’s job is on the line as city commissioners meet to decide his fate. A stern disciplinarian and gun-control advocate, he has asked DOJ to investigate his cops’ use of force and marched alongside protesters after George Floyd’s death. But although Chief Acevedo was born in Havana, his recent off-the-cuff remark that the department is in the throes of a (right-wing) “Cuban mafia” ruffled the feathers of politicians and underlings who felt ignored when the progressively-minded ex-Houston chief was brought in to run the struggling Florida agency six months ago.

3/12/21  In 2015 Dylan Roof murdered nine church parishioners in South Carolina with a gun he bought at retail. Although he was Federally prohibited from acquiring firearms because he was a drug user, the FBI did not discover his drug arrest within the three days allotted for background checks. So Roof automatically got his gun. A flood of gun sales has also burdened the “Insta-Check” system, leading to “more than 4,800” gun transfers in 2018 to prohibited buyers. On March 11 the House passed a bill that would extend background checks to seven days, require them for transactions at gun shows and between private parties, and ban the manufacture and transfer of unserialized “ghost guns.”

2/24/21  State criminal history checks are required for sales by gun dealers. However, Federal law (18 USC 922[t]) allows transfers to proceed after three days should a check remains incomplete. Gun crimes have  been committed by prohibited persons who took advantage of such delays. President Biden will reportedly sponsor regulations to correct this loophole and, as well, require criminal checks of persons who wish to assemble unserialized “ghost guns” from parts.

2/1/20 Loopholes aren’t just about guns. Nicotine-hooked teens are continuing to get their preferred, tasty fix by substituting one-time use flavored vapes for banned Juuls. An obscure “footnote” in FDA rules that ostensibly limit flavoring to menthol allows disposable units offering a full range of flavors to keep being sold.

6/26/24  According to the Surgeon General, firearms violence is a “public health crisis” that has displaced motor vehicle deaths as the number one killer of youths thru age 19. Among its recommendations are requiring secure gun storage, implementing universal background checks that include private-party sales, “effective firearm removal policies” that keep guns away from domestic abusers and other dangerous persons, and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Its report makes no mention of ballistics or differences in ammunition lethality.

11/13/23  Eighty-four of the 147 .223 caliber bullets fired by Nikolas Cruz during the 2018 Parkland High School massacre were produced by the U.S. Army’s Lake City armory. Although the plant is owned by the U.S. and began as a strictly military supplier, since 2011 it’s sold “hundreds of millions of rounds” each year to the commercial market. And its highly lethal projectiles have made their way to virtually every massacre of note during that period.

11/6/23  ATF’s 2019 rule that bans accessories known as “bump stocks” because they effectively transform semi-automatic rifles into machineguns was set aside last year by the Fifth Circuit, which held that a change in law would be required. That ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court, and it recently agreed to decide whether a regulation would suffice.

6/21/22  New York thought it had a “better idea” when it responded to the Buffalo massacre with a law that banned sale of “bullet-resistant soft body armor” to ordinary citizens. Problem is, the most bullet-resistant armor isn’t “soft” - it  contains hard plates that can stop high-energy projectiles such as those fired by assault rifles. They’re apparently still OK. So is bringing in the banned kind from other States. Legislators protested that they were working hurriedly. “We’ll try to make this law better.”

1/24/22  On January 21 three NYPD officers responded to a 9-1-1 call from a woman whose 47-year old  son had become violent. What they weren’t told, possibly because the dispatcher didn’t ask, is that Lashawn J. McNeil had a gun - a stolen .45 Glock pistol with a large extended magazine - and a criminal record. When two officers went into the back of the residence to fetch him he emerged and opened fire, mortally wounding rookie officer Jason Rivera, 22, and critically wounding his partner, Wilbert Mora. The third officer, who remained in the front, returned fire and critically wounded the shooter.

12/1/21  In a vote that mirrored the justices’ political affiliations, the full Ninth Circuit reversed a 2020 decision by a three-judge panel which affirmed a ruling by a District judge that California’s ban on large-capacity magazines (more than ten rounds) violates the 2nd. Amendment. So that State law is back in full effect. Still to be litigated is a June 2021 opinion by the same District judge throwing out California’s ban on assault weapons, and for the same reason.

5/6/21  In an op-ed, sociologist Frederick H. Decker suggests that a “scoring system” based on a weapon’s lethality could be used to devise a “graduated firearm tax.” To avoid circumventions, such as through private sales, background checks would have to be required whenever firearms change hands.

8/14/20  Applying a standard of “strict scrutiny,” a Federal appeals panel ruled, 2-1, that California’s ban on magazines that hold ten or more rounds (i.e., “high-capacity”) violates the Second Amendment.  Mass shootings don’t require such magazines. And state bans won’t necessarily have an effect, since assailants often use multiple firearms and bring in large-capacity magazines from other states.

8/4/20  A 2018 YouGov nationally representative survey of 1,100 adults about regulating firearms lethality revealed considerable overall support for banning assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and bump stocks. However, Republicans, conservatives, gun owners and, especially, NRA members, were far more likely to consider mass shootings as “the price of liberty.”

3/28/20 Two articles in a special issue of Criminology & Public Policy, “Assessing the potential.....” by Christopher S. Koper, and “Evidence concerning the regulation....” by Daniel W. Webster,  Alexander D. McCourt, Cassandra K. Crifasi, Marisa D. Booty and Elizabeth A. Stuart, report that restricting large-capacity magazines reduces the frequency of mass shootings. Handgun buyer licensing (but not background checks or assault weapon bans) were also found effective in the latter study.

12/23/19 Following a national buy-back in which residents turned in more than 56,000 guns, New Zealand’s prohibition on military-type semi-auto rifles and high-capacity magazines went into effect. Propelled by the March massacre that took fifty-one lives at two mosques in Christchurch, the law has met resistance in a land where gun ownership is widespread.

10/26/19 Dick’s Sporting Goods sells guns. But it no longer sells assault-style weapons or high capacity magazines and requires all gun buyers to be at least 21. That decision was made by C.E.O. Ed Stack after the 2018 Parkland, Fla. high school massacre. He concedes these steps won’t eliminate all mass shootings. “But there will be less loss of life if an assault-style rifle isn’t used. And if we do all those things and we save one life, in my mind it’s all worth it.”

10/25/19 Undercover California state agents regularly watch California residents acquire California-illegal assault rifles at gun shows in Arizona and Nevada. Buyers are tailed when they return to California, where they are stopped and the loot is seized. “The...problem is that California has a 608-mile border with Nevada...and Nevada’s gun regulations are less stringent,” a prosecutor said.

9/20/19 According to Colt Firearms “a pretty sharp decline in rifle sales” and a “significant inventory buildup by our distributors” has led it to suspend production of civilian versions of the AR-15. Colt will focus on police and military orders, which, it says, are “absorbing all of Colt’s manufacturing capacity for rifles.”

9/6/19 Check out Jay’s op-ed about assault weapons bans in today’s Washington Post.

9/1/19 A male in his 30s armed with a rifle hijacked a mail truck and went on a shooting rampage in the West Texas cities of Odessa and Midland. He killed seven and wounded nineteen, including three officers, before police shot him dead.

8/15/19 A Philadelphia man who had served Federal prison time for being a felon with firearms fired repeated barrages at police serving a narcotics search warrant. Six officers sustained minor wounds. The suspect eventually surrendered. An AR-15 rifle and a handgun were recovered.

8/15/19 Authorities say that the gun used to kill CHP officer Moye (see below update) was a “ghost gun,” meaning untraceable. It was apparently built by completing a partially-machined lower receiver that can be legally bought without a serial number, then assembling it into a weapon using legally-available parts.

8/13/19  On August 12 veteran California Highway Patrol officer Andre Moye, 34, was shot and killed and two colleagues were injured when a convicted felon whom officer Moye pulled over for a traffic violation opened fire with an “AR-15 style” rifle. Their assailant was reportedly a gang member who had served prison time for an armed assault.

8/12/19 Dayton gunman Connor Betts assembled his gun from legally-bought parts. Its upper receiver came from a friend, Ethan Kollie, who legally acquired it online. Kollie also bought the drum magazine and ballistic vest used by Betts.

11/21/24  Information about suicides attempted or committed by law enforcement officers since 2022 is now offered on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer. Information includes officer gender, age, time in service, manner of suicide, whether on or off duty, location, and four variables relating to a possible cause: “burnout/secondary trauma collapse,” “substance use disorder,” “chronic/increased absence from work,” and “subject of an administrative investigation.” So far this year seven agencies have reported nine suicides and 3 attempts. Data

3/22/24  One-hundred nineteen American law enforcement officers committed suicide in 2023 according to FirstHelp. They averaged about 17 years of service, and more than eighty percent were Caucasian. This total is considerable fewer than the 169 officer deaths by suicide FirstHelp reported for in 2022, and the 197 for 2019. But it’s far more than the thirteen that the FBI’s UCR system recorded at mid-year 2023. Its data collection efforts, though, are admittedly incomplete.

12/15/23   Twenty-seven thousand suicides by gun in 2022, the highest number ever recorded by the CDC. A Johns Hopkins analysis reveals that eighty percent are White men. According to a new report by The Trace, they’re the ones who drive gun ownership and assure that the firearms industry prospers. As for taking measures to prevent suicide, though, gun makers stay mum.

11/9/23  Three current L.A. Sheriff’s deputies and a retiree committed suicide within a day’s span. Among the victims was a ranking officer who had served as a media spokesperson, two current deputies, and a retired patrol sergeant. Four other Sheriff’s employees took their own lives earlier this year. Blame is attributed to the stresses of the profession and ready access to guns. According to Blue HELP, 83 U.S. law enforcement officers have committed suicide in 2023. That’s about half of last year’s total, 161.

8/17/23  After firing shots inside his San Bernardino County home, a man in a “mental health crisis” went to an adjacent golf course and fired “into the air”. He then reportedly pointed a handgun at responding police officers. They shot him dead. Authorities soon discovered that the gunman was off-duty Los Angeles County deputy sheriff Alejandro Diaz, 45.

8/11/23  Suicide in the U.S. hit a reported all-time high last year. According to the CDC, 49,449 persons took their lives in 2022. That’s an increase of 2.6 percent over the 48,183 suicides in 2021 and 2.3 percent over the 48,344 suicides in 2018. Firearms are reportedly “the most common method” of committing suicide, responsible for more than fifty percent. Suicide rates have steadily climbed over the past decades, a factor that experts attribute to the growing availability of guns.

7/25/23  Believing there was “no evidence of a crime or immediate danger,” Tampa police let a man leave after he reportedly pointed a gun at himself. That man, Miami-Dade Police chief Alfredo Ramirez, had been arguing with his wife outside the hotel where he was attending a law enforcement meeting. Chief Ramirez drove off, then pulled over and shot himself in the head. He is in critical condition but expected to survive.

10/3/22  Everyone knows about 911. But what’s 988? Launched in July, it’s a national, Government-funded service for persons experiencing suicidal thoughts or in a drug crisis. Intended to supersede the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which remains in service, 988 call centers are staffed by trained counselors, and there is an online option (988.lifeline.org/chat). There are presently 200 call centers, with 13 in California. Police will only be notified if a suicide is in progress or there is “imminent danger.”

9/3/22  Two days ago yet another Chicago police officer took their own life. “More than a dozen” members of the agency have done so since 2018. According to a 2017 Federal report, CPD’s suicide rate of 29.4 / 100,000 was “more than 60% higher” than the nation’s 18.1. (See 7/19/22 entry.)

8/6/22  Strongly supported by the Justice Department, a Congressional bill now in the works would expand a current Federal benefits program for officers and families when officers are permanently disabled from on-the-job injuries to include situations when officers “are permanently and totally disabled due to particular mental health disorders and/or who die by suicide as a result of exposure to a traumatic event they encounter while on duty.”

7/19/22  “More than a dozen” Chicago police officers have died by suicide since 2018. There have been three victims so far this year: a 52-year old Sergeant on March 12, a 6-year veteran officer on July 2, and a 42-year old male officer last Friday. Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed the stressors of policing and said that the city had devised a $20 million mental health program to combat the challenge. Officer suicide was mentioned as a significant issue in a 2017 Federal civil rights investigation of Chicago PD. (See 9/3/22 entry.)

3/19/22  In an address to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland emphasized DOJ’s commitment to preventing officer suicides. He announced that the IACP was awarded a grant of $2 million to convene a national meeting on this issue, and received an additional $1.5 million for officer wellness. DOJ’s COPS office is also offering $7 million to support police officer mental health initiatives around the U.S.

1/7/22  On New Year’s Eve, St. Lucie County (FL) deputy sheriff Clayton Osteen, 24 was taken to the hospital after attempting suicide. He soon passed. His live-in companion, deputy sheriff Victoria Pacheco, 23, committed suicide two days later. They left behind a one-month old son. Osteen, a Marine Corps vet,  was 2020 “deputy of the year.” Pacheco was honored last year for saving the life of an overdose victim.

12/10/21  Two $100 million lawsuits have been filed against the Oxford Township school district by families of the victims. An investigation by the Washington Post revealed that families of would-be shooters prevented a handful of like events in past years. In 2018, in Everett, Washington, the guardian of Joshua O’Connor, 18, discovered the once-badly abused teen’s elaborate written plans to stage a Columbine-like massacre. She also found the 9mm. rifle he had just bought to carry out his intentions. Police were called, and their search turned up bomb parts. In 2019, after pleading guilty to attempted murder and other charges, O’Connor was sentenced to 22 years.

12/4/21  A prosecutor explained why the parents of the Oxford high school shooter were charged with manslaughter. (Click here for the video.) One day before the massacre, a teacher caught the youth searching for ammunition on his phone. His parents were informed. His mother later messaged her son “Lol. I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.” On the day of the shooting, while the parents were at the school, they were shown a photo of a note their son wrote. It depicted a gun, a bullet, a bleeding person, and these comments: “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me”,  “Blood everywhere”, “My life is useless”, “The world is dead.” But no one looked in the student’s backpack. His parents declined to take the boy home, and an hour later he committed the massacre.

12/2/21  A fourth student, age 17, succumbed in the massacre at Michigan’s Oxford High School. Authorities announced that the shooter, Ethan Crumbley, is being charged as an adult with murder and terrorism. He had apparently revealed his intentions the previous evening on an Instagram post that pictured the gun in his hands: “just got my new beauty today...I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. See you tomorrow, Oxford.” On that day, but before the massacre, Crumbley’s parents were  summoned to his school over their son’s “concerning behavior.” Years earlier Crumbley’s mother posted an “open letter” to President Trump complaining about her son’s education and extolling gun ownership. Authorities may charge the parents for leaving the gun unsecured.

12/1/21  Armed with a 9mm. pistol his father recently bought, a 15-year old boy opened fire at a suburban Detroit high school, killing three students, ages 14, 16 and 17, and wounding eight others, including a teacher. Three of the surviving students are in critical condition. The shooter peacefully surrendered. His motive is presently unknown.

11/30/21  A woman returning to her Lancaster (CA) residence discovered that her four young children and grandmother had been shot dead. "My babies are gone! They're all dead!" she screamed in the front yard. Her husband, Germarcus David, 29, an unemployed security guard, soon turned himself in to police. He admitted he was the killer. David, whose online posts have a religious tinge, had no known motive.

8/15/21  D.C. officer Jeffrey Smith’s survivors filed a wrongful death lawsuit against two persons whom private researchers identified as his attackers. According to the plaintiffs, officer Smith suffered a severe blow that caused a traumatic brain injury, left him constantly weepy and unable to sleep, and led him to commit suicide.

8/4/21  Four law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6 have committed suicide. Three: Gunther Hashida (EOW: 7/29), Kyle DeFreytag (EOW: 7/10) and Jeffrey Smith (EOW: 1/15) were D.C police officers; one, Howard Liebengood (EOW: 1/9) was with the Capitol police. Officer Smith’s widow recounted her husband’s troubled text message during the assault: “London has fallen”, and his painful convalescence from injuries suffered when struck by a rioter with a metal pole.

7/15/21  Marking the twelfth such incident since 2018, and the third since March, on July 14 yet another Chicago police officer committed suicide. He was 24 years old, had two and one-half years on the job, and shot himself dead while off duty. A 2017 Federal report indicated that officer suicide is considered a “significant problem” at Chicago PD, whose officers take their own lives at a rate sixty percent above the national average.

7/11/21  Increased violence and fears of having to fend for oneself are helping fuel a wave of first-time buyers, driving gun ownership from 32 to 39 percent in 2020 according to the Washington Post. When George Floyd-related protests made her feel “like the world was in an apocalypse,” a 39-year old woman and “lifelong Democrat” got a rifle, then a handgun. “I never felt like I would want to own a gun because of the damage I thought they do to people. But when I started feeling unsafe, all of that changed.”

3/8/21  According to the Chicago Tribune, “at least eleven” Chicago cops have committed suicide during the past three years. In a recent week it took the lives of two officers: James Daly, 47, who was about to retire, and Jeffrey Troglia, 38, a fifteen-year veteran serving on an anti-crime team. Their motivations weren’t disclosed. But Louisiana sheriff’s deputy Clyde Kerr III, 43, who killed himself last month, had posted videos describing his despair in the face of police abuses of Black persons such as himself.

2/13/21  Described by one officer as “scarier than two tours as a soldier in Iraq,” the assault on the Capitol severely tested the mental health of its police. “Several” officers reportedly contemplated suicide in subsequent days, and one turned in their weapon. Mental health has now become a priority. But a move to classify the two officer suicides that took place as “line of duty” deaths lacks official support.

2/3/21  Two Capitol police officers who were present during the assault have committed suicide. On January 9 Capitol police officer Howard Liebengood, 51, who had been on the job fifteen years, killed himself while off duty. He is the son of a former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms. On January 15 officer Jeffrey Smith, 35, a 12-year veteran, killed himself while on his way to work. Officer Smith had been injured during the attack. Assault on the Capitol special topic

11/18/20  This year’s surge in gun sales has led to concerns about a corresponding surge in suicide. Firearms are a sure means of killing oneself, and account for more than half of America’s suicides. Suicide is also the predominant cause of gun deaths, with crimes and accidents accounting for about one-third.

9/15/20 In collaboration with BJA, the IACP established a National Consortium on Preventing Law Enforcement Suicide. One of its first initiatives is an overview of “safe and positive” messaging approaches that agencies, officers, and family members can use to help prevent suicides by law enforcement officers.

9/8/20  DOJ’s COPS office has set aside $4.5 million under its “Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act Program” to fund projects that seek to improve officer mental health and prevent suicide.

6/30/20 A middle-aged St. Louis lawyer couple exited their home and pointed an assault rifle and a pistol at protesters who allegedly crashed the entrance gates to their wealthy subdivision and marched to the mayor’s residence to demand cuts in police funding.

1/4/20 Blue H.E.L.P. reports that 228 law enforcement officers, including 39 who were retired, committed suicide in 2019. Figures for prior years are 172 in 2018, 168 in 2017 and 143 in 2016.  PERF, which considers suicide cops’ “number one occupational risk,” recently published “An Occupational Risk: What Every Police Agency Should Do To Prevent Suicide Among Its Officers.”

10/31/19 In Chicago, the International Association of Chiefs of Police assembled police leaders and family members to address police suicides. So far this year 188 officers committed suicide, a toll twice that of line-of-duty deaths. “Removing the stigma,” it was said, is key to solving the problem.

10/6/19 A thirty-seven year old man flew to Florida from Norway. He banged on a front door, and when it was answered jumped out from the bushes. Meant as a birthday surprise, his actions startled his father-in-law, who shot him dead.

9/25/19 A grand jury refused to indict the off-duty LAPD officer who shot and killed the mentally disturbed man and wounded his parents. According to the D.A., the officer was assaulted while carrying a child, temporarily lost consciousness, and reacted accordingly.

9/25/19 Suicide rates are climbing in the military services. In the Navy, three off-base suicides by members of the same crew in five days - with two confirmed by gun - raised the number of suicides for their vessel to five in two years. According to the Defense Department, the annual suicide rate of service members is 20.1/1000,000, considerably higher than the civilian toll of 14/100,000.

9/18/19 For more than two months, the sister of NYPD’s ninth officer to commit suicide this year reportedly pleaded with his supervisors to take his gun away. NYPD is expanding its anti-suicide efforts, but other agencies such as LAPD have long fielded mental health units with suicide prevention as an explicit mission. Overcoming officer reluctance to seek help is always a problem.

9/13/19 A 60-year old Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney shot and killed his wife and teenage son at their home. He then shot himself dead. A daughter was also present but managed to flee. According to police “the recent loss of a loved one and ongoing health issues played a significant role.”

9/7/19 A newly-released study reports an increase in suicide rates in the U.S. between 1999-2016. Among its key findings is that “the presence of more gun shops was associated with an increase in county-level suicide rates in all county types except the most rural.” (It’s believed that household firearms ownership in the latter has already maxed out.)

9/3/19 A 14-year old Alabama boy admitted he shot and killed his father, stepmother and three siblings, ages six months, five years and six years, while everyone was home. He used a 9mm. pistol that, according to police, was “illegally” present at the residence.

8/15/19 One day after its unfathomable eighth suicide this year, a 25-year veteran NYPD officer brought the toll to nine. Reportedly, it’s the worst in a decade.

8/14/19 With the suicide by gun of a seven-year veteran, NYPD’s 2019 officer suicide toll now stands at eight. The officer’s best friend on the force was one of four who committed suicide in June.

7/28/19 On July 27 an as-yet unnamed sergeant became the seventh NYPD officer to commit suicide this year. Four suicides occurred in June, leading the agency to declare “a mental health crisis.”

6/27/19 An unnamed veteran NYPD detective (later named as officer Kevin Preiss) committed suicide yesterday. That brings the city’s tragic count to four officers in three weeks.

6/26/19 On June 19 Adel Ramos, 45, used a high-powered rifle to shoot and kill rookie Sacramento, Calif. police officer Tara O’Sullivan, 26, during a domestic violence call. Ramos, who had a record and an open warrant for domestic violence, had a shotgun, a handgun and two California-illegal AR-15 type rifles assembled from parts. This tragedy apparently led California Governor Gavin Newsom to change his mind and endorse expanding the State’s red flag laws to allow, among other things, “teachers, employers and co-workers to also petition the courts.”