12/9/24  A 35-year old Chicago man with a CCW is charged with murder for fatally shooting an erratically-behaving transient. When a black-clad homeless man approached and did an “air kick,” John Conway pulled a handgun and shot him dead. Officers searching Conway’s residence found a sniper-type rifle and other guns, a city map festooned with X’s, a State map with colleges circled, and an elaborate written plan for harming a third party that included escape routes. Conway was ordered detained.

11/29/24  A “sting” operation by Lake County, Indiana sheriff’s detectives led to the arrest of an  Indiana couple for straw-buying a half-dozen handguns at a gun show. Julian Sgiers, 29, admitted that he had his girlfriend Tristyn Sampson, 30, use her drivers license to acquire the weapons, which he intended to resell to two other persons, including a teen. Sgiers, who has felony convictions in Indiana and Illinois, told Lake County, Indiana sheriff’s detectives that he had “fallen on hard times” and was simply “trying to make some money.” He and Sampson were booked on multiple felonies.

9/2/24   Dallas man Corey Cobb-Bey walked up to a patrol car that was parked by a community center. He drew a pistol and fired, killing the sole occupant, officer Darron Burks. Cobb-Bey shot and wounded two other officers who came on scene and fled. He was soon confronted by more officers, at whom he fired a shotgun. Their return fire killed him. Cobb-Bey’s guns were reportedly legally bought. His Texas criminal history shows one arrest and conviction, in 2017, for misdemeanor giving false/fictitious I.D.

7/19/24  Firearms were prohibited in the buildings where the Republican National Convention was held, and in the immediate “hard perimeters” where only credentialed persons could pass. Wisconsin state law, though, permits unlicensed open carry of handguns and long guns. It also allows unrestricted concealed carry by permittees. What’s more, state law prohibits cities from imposing tighter restrictions. So Milwaukee citizens who legally carry guns were likely nearby. Ditto, those who flout such laws. Such as the ski-mask wearing soul who was carrying a concealed pistol in a bag about “a three-minute walk” away. He lacked the required permit and was arrested for a misdemeanor.  Perimeter security maps

7/16/24  Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year old who tried to assassinate former President Trump, was a member of the “Clairton Sportsmen’s Club.” Its vast, Pittsburgh-area facility offers marksmanship classes and hosts youth shooting events. One of its ranges is designed for high-powered rifles, with targets “up to 187 yards away.” According to the FBI, Crooks used an AR-style 5.56mm rifle that had been legally purchased by his father. How the son came to possess it has not been revealed.

7/15/24  Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year old who opened fire at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a high-school grad who worked at a nursing home in nearby Bethel Park, where he lived with his parents. Crooks used an “AR-15 style” rifle that his father purchased months earlier. Pennsylvania law allows persons 18 or older to buy and possess handguns and long guns. It does not restrict assault weapons. Crooks supposedly wore a gun-themed T-shirt during the assault. A past fellow student described him as a loner who wore “hunting outfits” to school and was chronically bullied. Crooks had no adult criminal record. Authorities found “bomb-making materials” in his vehicle and residence.

4/29/24  Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill, drafted in response to the 2023 Covenant school massacre, that allows teachers whose schools have entered into special agreements with local police to carry concealed handguns. Teachers who want to be armed must pass a background check and psychological evaluation and undergo 40 hours of special training. But it’s really up to the schools. Nashville’s system, which has school resource officers on each campus, declined to participate.

2/22/24  Called by concerned persons who were unable to contact the family, San Mateo, Calif. police found the bodies of a man, woman and their two children inside their home. Anand Henry, 37, apparently shot his wife dead, then killed himself. Their twin sons were also deceased, but not from gunfire. Their cause of death is as yet unknown. Henry’s registered handgun was found nearby. He was a software engineer; his wife was a data scientist. According to police, neither had a violent history.

1/26/24  A 26-year old man was found guilty of murder in the May, 2021 shooting death of a six-year old on a Southern California freeway. Marcus Eriz, 26, was riding in a car that cut off the vehicle which the child occupied. Eriz flashed a peace sign at its driver, the child’s mother; she responded with a hostile gesture and sped away. He in turn drew his licensed pistol and fired once. His bullet pierced the other car and fatally wounded the child. Eriz testified that he had been angered but meant no harm.

1/24/24  According to families of his victims, Louisville bank employee Connor Sturgeon acted oddly and seem to know little about guns when he bought the AR-15 rifle he used to murder five co-workers. A lawsuit just filed by the families against the store claims that Sturgeon’s behavior should have prevented the April 2023 sale, which took place only six days before the massacre. Sturgeon’s family, on the other hand, was well aware of his mental health struggles. But Kentucky lacks a “Red Flag” law.

12/8/23  The 67-year old ex-professor who opened fire in a UNLV building, killing three and wounding one, was being evicted from his apartment. Anthony Polito carried a “list of targets” that included faculty at UNLV (at least two of his victims were UNLV professors) and a North Carolina university where he had taught. Polito had sent letters to more than twenty faculty members, and one contained “white powder.” His gun, a 9mm. pistol, was legally purchased, and he carried a large quantity of ammunition.

11/28/23  Jason J. Eaton, a 48-year old man who recently relocated from Syracuse, was arrested for the November 26 shooting of three Palestinian-American college students in Burlington. Eaton, who legally purchased the gun he reportedly used in the attack, pled not guilty and is being held without bail. He does not have a criminal record and was never suspected of committing a crime. But he is named in 37 Syracuse police reports dating back to 2007, including 21 as a victim or complainant.

10/6/23  A shirtless, middle-aged man with a holstered handgun entered the Wisconsin capitol and asked to see the Governor. Instead, he was arrested for carrying the handgun in a restricted area. Joshua Pleasnick posted $800 bail and was released that evening. He returned to the building’s exterior an hour later with an assault rifle. While carrying a rifle outside is legal, Pleasnick had a collapsible police baton (considered a weapon) in his backpack. He was arrested for CCW and placed on a mental hold.

8/30/23  Jacksonville shooter Ryan Palmeter, who murdered three persons at a Dollar Store, was a former Dollar employee. He was shooed away by a guard from another Dollar location before embarking on his massacre. A college drop-out, Palmeter had a deeply troubled mental history. Years earlier he had run away from home, leaving a suicide note. This time he left behind “the diary of a madman.”

8/28/23  Wielding an AR-15 rifle and a Glock pistol, a racially-driven 21-year old White man shot and killed a Black woman outside a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida. Ryan Palmeter then burst inside, murdered a Black shopper and a Black employee, and committed suicide. Years ago Palmeter was taken in by his parents for a mental exam, but the circumstances of his release did not prohibit him from legally buying his weapons at a local gun store earlier this year.

8/24/23  A retired Ventura, Calif. police sergeant opened fire on his estranged wife and other patrons at Cook’s Corner, a well-known Los Angeles-area biker bar. Three were killed and six, including his ex-wife, were wounded. Orange County deputies promptly responded and fired at the gunman, who was outside the bar. John Snowling became the fourth fatality of America's most recent mass-shooting event.

8/12/23  “I just lost it. I just shot my wife. I won’t be in tomorrow. I will be in custody. I’m so sorry.” Sent moments after he pulled a pistol from an ankle holster and shot his wife, Sheryl Ferguson, dead, Orange County (Calif.) Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson’s text message shocked the Southland criminal justice community. Police later seized the pistol and 46 other legally acquired weapons from the unhappy couple’s home. Ferguson, 72, has been released on $1 million bond.

7/27/23  Police searching the home of Long Island, NY architect Rex A. Heuermann, who has been charged with murdering three women, found 279 firearms in his residence. Among them were 92 handguns for which he had permits. Heuermann’s victims are among the eleven sex workers whose bodies were recovered from area beach-side communities more than a decade ago.

6/26/23  Stimulated in part by the pandemic, fears of personal safety led to a surge of gun purchase by persons who had not owned a firearm. Meanwhile, gun buying by previous owners “didn’t stop.” Researchers warn that having a gun raises the risk of both homicide and suicide. And of lethal mistakes. Armed persons - including cops - are more likely to perceive (and misperceive) that others are armed: “holding that gun is distorting how you’re seeing the world.” And instead of old-fashioned “duking it out,” access to guns has led to a soaring rate of homicide among teens, who express anger by pulling a trigger.

6/22/23  Majorjon Kaylor, 31 and his wife shared a Kellogg, Washington duplex with a 65-year old man, his adult daughter and her two teen sons. One of the boys, who “struggled socially,” had exposed himself to the Kaylor’s daughters. That enraged Majorjon. But his complaints weren’t apparently taken seriously enough. So Majorjon got his .45 caliber pistol and executed the family, shooting all four in the head. Majorjon has a minor criminal record, mostly traffic but with one misdemeanor drug conviction.

6/20/23  Hunter Biden, the President’s troubled son, has long admitted having a drug problem, supposedly brought on by the death of his brother. He’s now agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax violations. He is also being charged with being an illegal drug user in possession of a handgun (18 USC 922[g][3]) stemming from his purchase of a Colt Cobra .38 caliber revolver in 2018. But that charge will be held in abeyance and dismissed if he successfully completes a two-year diversion program.

6/19/23  In rural Ohio, a “quiet, calm” neighborhood is in shock after one of its residents lined up his three young sons, ages 3, 4 and 7, and shot them dead with a rifle. Chad Doerman, 32, also shot his wife in the hand as she tried to shield the boys from his inexplicable act. Doerman, who admits he planned the killings, surrendered peacefully. According to a Sheriff’s press release a 9-1-1 caller reported that “a female juvenile was seen running down the road stating that her father was killing everyone.”

6/13/23  Susan Lorincz, the White Florida woman who shot and killed a Black neighbor who angrily pounded on her door, admitted calling the victim’s children the “N word” because of repeated prior instances of “disrespect”.  One child said that on the evening of the shooting Lorincz “gave the children the middle finger” and said “get away from my house, you Black slave.” That night Lorincz was reportedly angered because neighbors were “screaming and yelling” and kids “were running around.”

Twenty-one months in Federal prison. That’s the sentence handed down to Virginia mom Deja Taylor, 26, whose six-year old took her gun to his Newport News school this January and gravely wounded his teacher. Taylor, a chronic marijuana user whose home and vehicle were found replete with weed, pled guilty to falsely denying that she used drugs on the Federal gun-purchase form. A lawsuit filed by the teacher alleging that school authorities ignored warnings the boy was armed is pending. NOTE: On 12/15/23 Taylor drew a 2-year prison term for felony child neglect, to run consecutively to her Federal sentence.

5/22/23  Two weeks after the March 27th. Nashville massacre, Tennessee’s governor signed a law that  further limits lawsuits against the firearms industry. According to the bill’s sponsor, its purpose “is just to try to help businesses in this state.” Still, some “high profile” shootings have led to settlements. For example, the $73 million paid by Remington to the families of the Sandy Hook victims. Meanwhile in Texas, families of the Uvalde victims are pressing on with their lawsuit against gun manufacturer Daniel Defense over its allegedly risky marketing practices.

5/22/23  Maryland doesn’t have a “stand your ground” law. However, it lets persons openly carry long guns in public. And that’s what MAGA-hat clad J’Den McAdory, 20, has been doing since February as he walks around suburban neighborhoods with an AR-type rifle fitted with an extended magazine slung around his shoulders. McAdory concedes that seeing him near schools and school bus stops might put people off. But his purpose is benign: to do away with “the stigma of people carrying guns in public.”

5/18/23  Beau Wilson, the 18-year old Farmington, New Mexico youth who killed three and wounded six, fired most of his volleys, including 176 rounds from his assault rifle, from the home where he lived with his father. He left behind a note that begins “If your reading this Im the end of the chapter.”

5/17/23  Beau Wilson, the youth who went on an armed rampage in his Farmington, New Mexico neighborhood on May 15, killing three and wounding six, had three weapons, including an assault rifle that he legally purchased when he turned eighteen last October. His other guns came from his family. According to the police chief, Wilson had a record of “minor infractions” and was reportedly mentally ill.

5/16/23  An 18-year old man armed with an AR-15 style rifle and two other guns roamed through a working-class neighborhood of Farmington, New Mexico just before the noon hour on Monday, randomly firing at homes and cars. Nine persons were struck by bullets; three died. A local police officer and a State trooper were among the injured; neither was seriously wounded. Police shot the gunman dead. His name and possible motivation have not yet been released.

8/15/24  Twenty-eight States reportedly allow “permitless carry,” enabling ordinary citizens to pack guns without the need for a record check, special training or a license. According to an analysis by The Trace, sixteen of twenty States that abolished the need for a gun-carry permit between 2015 and 2022 suffered an increase in shooting deaths, not including suicides. At 40.2 percent, West Virginia suffered the highest average monthly increase. Missouri came in at 28.7 percent; Kansas, at 24.9.

5/20/24  Last year, former US Army Sgt. Daniel Perry drew a 25-year prison term for fatally shooting Garrett Foster. In 2020 Perry was working as a ride-share driver Austin when he encountered a pro-Floyd demonstration. He opened fire when Mr. Foster, who was one of the participants, allegedly raised his rifle. Acting on a parole board recommendation, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott just pardoned Perry, releasing him from prison and restoring his gun rights. A strong gun-rights proponent, Gov. Abbott said that Texas’ stand-your-ground law “cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney.”

3/18/24  In February Minneapolis-area resident Shannon Gooden, 38, shot and killed two suburban Minneapolis police officers and a paramedic during a domestic violence call. Gooden, who had been convicted of assault with a knife, was barred from having guns. But his live-in companion, Ashley  Dyrdahl, who allegedly knew of his record, bought him several, including three AR-15 style rifles. She has now been Federally indicted for doing so.

3/4/24  Twenty-five to life. That’s the sentence handed down to 66-year old Kevin Monahan for murdering the passenger of one of the vehicles that mistakenly drove up the driveway of his rural, upstate New York home.  Monahan said he opened fire with a shotgun to “scare the group away” while his wife hid inside. But jurors agreed that his rage was “irrational”, and the judge gave him the maximum penalty for 2nd. degree murder. His victim, 20-year old Kaylin Gillis, has been deeply mourned. (See 1/24/24 update)

2/26/24  Has the unending stream of mass killings made Americans “numb to violence”? That’s what ATF boss Steven Dettelbach fears. Meeting with families of the victims of the October 2023 massacre in Lewiston, Maine, where eighteen were killed, he emphasized that speaking out was crucial. “Your voices are very important...It really makes a difference.” Dettelbach later told reporters that it was “too easy” for unstable persons to get firearms, and that keeping them away from guns was key.

2/19/24  “Senseless” killings plague the land. In San Bernardino, California, an angry motorist reacted to a minor parking lot fender-bender by shooting and killing the driver of the other car. The shooter, who apparently had a serious mental history, used an unregistered 9mm. pistol. She was booked on murder charges.

1/24/24  A New York jury found a 66-year old man guilty of murder in the April 2023 shooting death of a twenty-year old woman who was riding in one of two cars that mistakenly drove up his rural home’s driveway. Jurors rejected Kevin Monahan’s claim that he fired his shotgun to protect himself, and that the fatal round, which came after a “warning shot”, was accidentally discharged. He was also convicted of reckless endangerment and of tampering with evidence, for cleaning the shotgun before police arrived. (See 3/4/24 update)

11/28/23  A brand-new NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters reports that 52% - a record high - said they or a member of their household owns a gun. That compares with 42% who said so in 2013, and 46% in 2019. Gun ownership was reported as 66% by Republican respondents, 45% by independents, and 41% by Democrats. While percentages have varied, the groups’ relative positions have held steady since 2004.

6/26/23  In August 2022 a small-town South Carolina fire chief and his son used pickup trucks to chase, and ultimately hold at gunpoint, two 17-year old teens who used the chief’s driveway to turn their car around. That pursuit was described as it happened by the frightened teens, who called 9-1-1. Police  arrived and had the chief stand down. But the matter’s now the subject of a lawsuit, and a re-investigation by police, which originally took no action. According to Giffords, South Carolina, a stand-your-ground state, authorizes private persons to use deadly force to prevent fleeing from a felony.

An El Paso, Texas Uber driver was shot in June by a visitor from Kentucky who thought that she was involuntarily taken across the border. Phoebe Copas, 48 said she grabbed a pistol from her purse when a freeway sign suggested they were in Mexico. But they weren't, and the driver was following the normal route to her destination. After shooting Daniel Garcia in the head, Copas took his picture, sent it to her boyfriend, and dialed 911. Mr. Garcia has now died, and Copas is charged with his murder.

6/26/23  Stimulated in part by the pandemic, fears of personal safety led to a surge of gun purchase by persons who had not owned a firearm. Meanwhile, gun buying by previous owners “didn’t stop.” Researchers warn that having a gun raises the risk of both homicide and suicide. And of lethal mistakes. Armed persons - including cops - are more likely to perceive (and misperceive) that others are armed: “holding that gun is distorting how you’re seeing the world.” And instead of old-fashioned “duking it out,” access to guns has led to a soaring rate of homicide among teens, who express anger by pulling a trigger.

6/14/23  After an argument “turned physical,” a 45-year old Maryland man pulled a pistol and shot two neighbors dead. He then opened fire with a rifle, killing another man and wounding three others. Annapolis resident Charles Robert Smith was upset that partygoers had been blocking his driveway. He faces three counts of murder, and three of assault. Maryland is not a “stand your ground” State. But its gun homicide problem is considerable, and has been increasing.

6/13/23  Susan Lorincz, the White Florida woman who shot and killed a Black neighbor who angrily pounded on her door, admitted calling the victim’s children the “N word” because of repeated prior instances of “disrespect”.  One child said that on the evening of the shooting Lorincz “gave the children the middle finger” and said “get away from my house, you Black slave.” That night Lorincz was reportedly angered because neighbors were “screaming and yelling” and kids “were running around.”

6/7/23  Florida’s “stand your ground” law is the defense offered by a 58-year old woman who fired through her front door, fatally wounding a neighbor. Susan Lorincz is charged with manslaughter and other crimes in the killing of Ajike Owens, a mother of four whose childrens’ behavior was the subject of a long-running, bitter dispute. Lorincz claims that she fired because Owens was trying “to break down her door.” Protests have broken out, spurred by race: the shooter is White, and the victim was Black.

6/2/23  A 58-year old owner of a South Carolina convenience store is charged with murder after shooting and killing a 14-year old boy he and his son chased from the store after wrongly suspecting the youth had shoplifted. During the pursuit, Rick Chow’s son said that the youth had a gun. Chow promptly fired at the teen’s back, inflicting a fatal wound. A handgun was found next to the youth’s body, but there is no indication he pointed it at anyone. Chow, who has often called police to the store, had previously shot at thieves and wounded one. But those episodes were found to be justified. South Carolina has a SYG law. Its laws also let private persons use deadly force to prevent thieves from fleeing in the nighttime.

5/25/23  “I’m here and I have a gun.” Those were the words allegedly uttered at the gates of the CIA’s McLean, Virginia headquarters by Gainsville, Florida man Eric Sandow, 32. He was turned away and police were called. Sandow, who seems free of prior criminal convictions, was later arrested at the nearby preschool where he had parked his car. Inside police found an AK-47 type rifle, a pistol, and a large quantity of ammunition. According to officers, Sandow “exhibited paranoid behavior, irrational verbal behavior, incoherent statements and had an inability to state a plan or purpose”.

5/17/23  A Texas man and his 12-year old son face murder charges after the boy got an AR-style rifle from his father’s vehicle and repeatedly shot a fast-food worker who had tangled with his father during a disturbance outside a Sonic drive-in. Texas has a “stand your ground” law.

5/15/23  “Blues” are hoping that “Red” states, where gun violence has disproportionately increased, will consider gun control measures. And after the March 27 shooting at Covenant school in Nashville, Tennessee legislators dropped plans to arm teachers and let 18-year olds carry guns without a permit. But other “Red” states continue loosening gun laws. In North Carolina, background checks are no longer required for private-party handgun sales. And South Carolina’s governor, who backs stronger penalties for illegal gun possession, favors a bill that would allow carrying a gun without a permit.

5/9/23  When he supposedly “saw shadows outside his home,” Louisiana man David Doyle, 58, opened fire. Those “shadows” were actually children playing hide-and-seek. One bullet from his barrage struck a 14-year girl in the head, but she survived. Doyle faces aggravated assault and battery charges. Louisiana is a stand-your-ground State.

5/3/23  Francisco Oropeza was arrested without incident. A tip led police to a home about twenty miles away, to which Oropeza was apparantly connected. He was found him hiding in a closet. Oropeza’s common-law wife has also been arrested, for hindering his apprehension.

In rural Texas gunfire is commonplace, and police response to these episodes is often delayed. State law generally allows shooting on one’s property unless it’s done carelessly, and it’s up to counties to forbid the practice altogether. But San Jacinto County, where Francisco Oropeza massacred his neighbors, never did. According to a local constable, residents often complained. “I get calls all the time for that...If they’re discharging the weapon in a safe manner, there’s nothing I can do.”

5/2/23  Francisco Oropeza, who is being sought for murdering five rural Texas neighbors who asked him to stop shooting his AR-15 type rifle late at night, is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and has been deported four times, most recently in 2016. His victims were immigrants from Honduras, and at least one was a legal resident.

10/16/24  According to a noted gun-law analyst, the Supreme Court’s landmark Bruen decision fundamentally reshaped the gun-law landscape. Still, the Court just reinstated, at least for the time being, a Pennsylvania law that bars persons under 21 from carrying guns during declared emergencies. But consequential decisions about “ghost guns,” gun possession by felons and “Red Flag” laws are still in the offing.

9/5/24  In an official White House statement, President Joe Biden cited the Georgia school shooting as providing “even more” reason for “Reds” to partner with “Blues” in enacting  “common-sense gun safety legislation.” He proposed re-instituting the Federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, mandating safe gun storage, enacting universal background checks (to also cover private sales), and stripping gun manufacturers’ immunity to lawsuits.

6/17/24  According to the AP, America suffered four mass shootings overnight. In a Detroit suburb, a 42-year old man with mental issues but no criminal record opened fire with handguns at a family-oriented suburban “splash pad”. Nine were wounded, two critically. Stephen Huber, the shooter, committed suicide when police closed in at his residence. In another Detroit suburb, a shooting left six wounded. In Massachusetts, gunfire broke out during a party, wounding seven, and two were killed and six were wounded at a Juneteenth gathering in Texas.

2/15/24  Kansas City’s victorious football team had already left on buses when, despite the presence of “more than 800” police officers, gunfire broke out at the end of a parade celebrating the Chief’s Super Bowl victory. One person was killed and twenty-one were wounded, including eight children. Fans pursued several suspects, and three were detained. Several firearms were also recovered.

2/12/24  Accompanied by a young child, an unidentified woman in her thirties walked into a Houston megachurch between services on Sunday afternoon and opened fire with an “AR-15” rifle. Two off-duty police officers working security fired back, killing her. Her child was critically injured, and a parishioner was wounded. Her rifle was reportedly marked “Free Palestine”, but her motives are as yet unknown.

9/25/23  Acting by Executive Order, President Biden established the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. It will seek to reduce gun violence through four initiatives: to “fully implement” the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act; help support the survivors of gun violence and their communities; find new ways to apply executive action; and “expand our coalition of partners in states and cities across America.”

8/30/23  Called in response to the March 27 Covenant school massacre, a special session of the Tennessee legislature closed chaotically, with pushing and shoving between “Red” and “Blue” legislators but no substantial action on gun control. Governor Bill Lee’s key proposal, which would have authorized  judges to issue extreme risk protection orders, thus “allow for the timely and temporary removal of firearms from individuals who pose a threat to themselves and others,” went down to defeat.

8/23/23  A special session of the Tennessee legislature about the March 2023 Covenant school shooting broke down into disorder as parents - most favor stricter gun control laws - were removed from the hearing. Governor Lee’s proposal for extreme risk protection orders (“Red Flag” law) seems headed to defeat. However, a measure to arm teachers advanced. It’s opposed by parents, who feel that teachers have enough to do to keep children safe and shouldn’t be expected to engage in armed combat.

7/31/23  Mass shootings continue to beset America. During the early morning hours of July 30 gunfire broke out at a large street party in Muncie, Indiana.  Nineteen persons were wounded, one fatally. A witness said armed “individuals” who attended the party were responsible, but their motive is unknown. About the same time, “multiple persons” opened fire on a group of women in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. One woman was killed and eight were wounded. Again, the motive is unknown.

6/5/23  Tennesee does not have a “Red Flag” law. And Governor Bill Lee insists that his proposal, drafted in response to the March 27 massacre at Nashville’s Covenant Christian School, isn’t one. Still, it’s  intended “to address unstable individuals who suffer from mental health issues but do not qualify for involuntary commitment to a facility.” Governor Lee characterized NRA’s opposition to the measure as an endorsement of involuntary commitment, which he feels is far more invasive of privacy.

5/30/23  A 20-year old Arizona man faces four counts of murder and one of attempted murder after confessing that he engaged in a Phoenix-area killing spree that left four persons dead and one wounded. Iren Byers told Mesa police that he was motivated by a hatred for drugs, and that his middle-aged victims, allegedly street persons who used fentanyl and other narcotics, “didn't deserve” help. Officers found the 9mm. pistol that Byers used in his grandmother's bedroom.

5/18/23  Beau Wilson, the 18-year old Farmington, New Mexico youth who killed three and wounded six, fired most of his volleys, including 176 rounds from his assault rifle, from the home where he lived with his father. He left behind a note that begins “If your reading this Im the end of the chapter.”

5/17/23  Beau Wilson, the youth who went on an armed rampage in his Farmington, New Mexico neighborhood on May 15, killing three and wounding six, had three weapons, including an assault rifle that he legally purchased when he turned eighteen last October. His other guns came from his family. According to the police chief, Wilson had a record of “minor infractions” and was reportedly mentally ill.

5/16/23  An 18-year old man armed with an AR-15 style rifle and two other guns roamed through a working-class neighborhood of Farmington, New Mexico just before the noon hour on Monday, randomly firing at homes and cars. Nine persons were struck by bullets; three died. A local police officer and a State trooper were among the injured; neither was seriously wounded. Police shot the gunman dead. His name and possible motivation have not yet been released.

5/15/23  “Blues” are hoping that “Red” states, where gun violence has disproportionately increased, will consider gun control measures. And after the March 27 shooting at Covenant school in Nashville, Tennessee legislators dropped plans to arm teachers and let 18-year olds carry guns without a permit. But other “Red” states continue loosening gun laws. In North Carolina, background checks are no longer required for private-party handgun sales. And South Carolina’s governor, who backs stronger penalties for illegal gun possession, favors a bill that would allow carrying a gun without a permit.

5/8/23  One year ago, soon after her release from a psychiatric hospital, the deeply troubled 21-year old daughter of a Michigan couple purchased a pistol. Days later she murdered her boyfriend and her brother, then committed suicide. Her parents had asked police to take their daughter’s guns, but they refused because of “her Second Amendment right.” Michigan is now set to pass a Red Flag law to facilitate gun seizures from the mentally disturbed. But “over half” the state’s counties say they are 2nd. Amendment “sanctuaries,” and sheriffs have warned that Red Flag laws would be ignored.

5/4/23  And the massacres continue. In Atlanta, former Coast Guardsman Deion Patterson, 24 opened fire in the waiting room of a midtown medical facility, killing one woman and critically wounding four. He then fled and reportedly carjacked a vehicle, which was recovered in the suburbs. Patterson, who was reportedly on medication for anxiety and depression, was subsequently arrested. And in central Florida, police shot and killed Al Joseph Stenson, 38, after tracking him to a motel from an apartment complex where he had allegedly murdered a 40-year old woman and her three children, whom he supposedly knew.

4/10/23  California’s move into deinstitutionalization came in 1967 with passage of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, which set a high bar for the detention and involuntary treatment of the mentally ill. Its alleged failure to provide due care is addressed by new legislation that would broaden “gravely disabled” to include persons with a mental or substance abuse disorder that impairs their safety and well-being. However, it’s drawn opposition from advocacy groups and its prospects are uncertain. Senate Bill 43

4/7/23  Spurred by the massacre in Nashville, three of the 23 “Blues” in Tennessee’s House of Representatives joined citizens in a rowdy protest on the House floor demanding stronger gun laws and a ban on assault weapons. But there are 75 “Reds” in the House. So they successfully voted to expel two of the three “Blues”, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson. Expelled representatives, though, can be re-elected. And they can’t be expelled twice for the same reason.

4/4/23  According to Nashville police, school shooter Audrey Hale planned the massacre at Covenant Christian School “for months.” Hale reportedly fired 152 rounds during the assault. Hale bought seven guns between October 30, 2020 and June 6, 2022, most recently an “AR-15 style” rifle (the Lead Star Arms “Grunt”).  Demonstrators at the Tennessee State Capitol demanded a ban on assault weapons, a “Red Flag” law, and tougher background checks for gun buyers.