10/1/24  Earlier this year U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence to be an official “public health crisis.” According to the Commonwealth Fund, the U.S. ranks in the worst seven percent of firearm mortality for all countries. It’s 16th. out of 204 (higher is not better.) With a gun death rate of 13.5/100,000, the U.S. is also sixth-worse out of 67 high-income countries. (Japan, with a rate of .02, is second-best). Firearm mortality rates for most U.S. States are also higher than for most countries. Indeed, their gun violence death rates are comparable to countries “experiencing active conflict.”

9/10/24  On Sept. 7, only “hours” before opening fire on a Kentucky Interstate, Joseph A. Couch purchased the AR-15 he used and 1,000 rounds of ammunition from a local gun dealer. He then texted his ex wife. “I’m going to kill a lot of people. Will try at least.” Couch was an Army reservist from 2013 to 2019. When he left the service he was still a private. His AR-15 was later found near the scene. Couch remains at large.

9/9/24  A Kentucky Interstate descended into chaos Saturday afternoon as a shooter, who was not in a vehicle, opened fire on cars driving through a rural stretch. Nine vehicles were struck by gunfire, seriously wounding five occupants and injuring two others in an accompanying wreck. Police are seeking the alleged perpetrator, Joseph A. Couch, a 32-year-old local resident. They have shared a photo from his February 8 arrest in Knox County.

9/6/24  A 39-year-old man who lived on a Northern California ranch opened fire on the many animals whom the owner kept on the property. During a three-hour period Vicente Joseph Arroyo slaughtered eighty-one creatures, including “miniature horses, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, ducks and other birds.” Alerted to the gunfire, deputies responded with a SWAT team. They arrested Arroyo for numerous felonies, including being a felon with a gun. An illegal assault weapon, two “ghost guns”, four other firearms and 2,000 rounds of ammunition were seized.

9/3/24  Labor Day was marred by at least two major episodes of gun violence. In New York City, a gunman opened fire on a group of spectators lining the route of the West Indian American Day Parade. Five persons were wounded, one critically. The shooter, described as “a man in his 20’s,” had supposedly  selected his targets. He remains at large. And in the Chicago suburb of Forest Park, a shooting on a Blue Line train left four dead. Police later arrested an armed man on a “Pink Line” train in Chicago. Neither shooters’ motives have as yet been reported.

8/12/24 Denver suburbs suffered a spate of lethal weekend gunplay. Commerce City (pop. 65,881, pov. 17.2%) averages “maybe 5 or 6 homicides a year.” But a string of unrelated shootings took four lives and left a woman in critical condition. Meanwhile in nearby Aurora (pop. 390,617, pov. 11%), gunfire during two early morning “altercations” killed one and wounded three.

5/15/24  According to the FBI’s just-released LEOKA report, 60 law enforcement officers were feloniously slain in 2023. That’s one fewer than in 2022, when 61 were killed, and 13 less than in 2021, when 73 fell victim. But the overall toll was the highest of any three year period in the last 20 years. Ten-year highs were reached in 2023 in two other rates: officers assaulted and injured (but not killed) with guns, and assaulted by any means. Of the latter, most involved responses to simple assaults on citizens, followed by drug violations.

5/14/24  “Dressed in black and armed with a rifle,” a 16-year old male teen walked into an Abbeville, Louisiana Catholic church on Sunday morning, May 12, during a First Communion Mass for sixty children. Parishioners promptly grabbed the youth and held him for police. He was charged with “terrorizing” and underage gun possession and taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation.

5/7/24  Information that a student had a weapon led University of California at Riverside campus police to execute a search warrant on his dorm room. According to an official news release, officers seized “an assault rifle registered to [the] student, ammunition, five high-capacity magazines, and hand-drawn images in a journal depicting a violent act.”  The student was ordered off campus and suspended. The student’s age was not revealed. California law allows persons 18 and older to have and acquire rifles.

5/6/24  According to the Wisconsin Dept. of Justice, the student shot and killed by Mt. Horeb police (he’s been identified by media sources as 14-year old Damian Haglund, an eight-grader) was encountered near the entrance to the village middle school armed with a Ruger .177 caliber pellet rifle. He pointed it at responding officers and did not drop it when ordered to do so. A review of Haglund’s X account (link supplied by Heavy.com) reveals many disturbing, threatening posts (most recently, “my last morning” on May 1st.) and a fascination with guns. (See below update)

5/2/24  In Mt. Horeb, a small Wisconsin city of about 7,000 pop. approx. 23 miles West of Madison, local police shot and killed a student outside a local middle school. Officers were responding to a call about an armed person and fired multiple times. Authorities have so far declined to provide any further details, including the kind of weapon the student carried or whether it had been fired. Classes were in session, and the campus was locked down after students and faculty heard several gunshots. A nonprofit Madison newssite reported that the student, who was 14, had been observed by a fellow-eight grader as he tried to break into the school through a cafeteria window, first using the butt of a rifle, then firing shots at the glass. He had also posted threatening comments in foreign languages on a Snapchat account. (See above update)

4/1/24 Two and one-half years have passed since Ethan Crumbley’s parents were jailed for making a newly-bought pistol easily accessible to their deeply troubled 17-year old son. Ethan Crumbley promptly used the gun to murder four students and wound seven. He was convicted and got life without parole. Jennifer and James Crumbley were tried and convicted of manslaughter earlier this year. Both were just sentenced to fifteen years and will have to serve at least ten, with credit for time served.

3/15/24  James Crumbley was found guilty by a Michigan jury. Both he and his wife Jennifer now stand convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter for making a gun accessible to their deeply troubled 17-year old son. In November 2021, Ethan Crumbley used the pistol his father bought him four days earlier to kill four students at Michigan’s Oxford High School. He pled guilty and got life without parole. His mother was convicted in February. She and her husband could draw up to 15 years on each count.

2/7/24  Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of the youth who used his parents’ handgun to kill four classmates and wound seven others at Michigan’s Oxford High School in November 2021, was convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Testimony revealed that she and husband James Crumbley, who’s pending trial, helped teach their son how to use the gun and ignored clear indications of his mental distress. She could get up to fifteen years on each count, with credit for 2 1/2 years served in jail. (See 12/1/21, 12/2/21, 12/10/21, 10/25/22 and 12/11/23 updates)

2/6/24  Mexico’s long-standing, off-again, on-again lawsuit against American gun makers, including Ruger and Smith & Wesson, is on-again as a Federal appeals court rules that the “Lawful Commerce in Firearms Act”, an American law which protects gun makers from lawsuits, only protects (as its name implies) legal marketing practices. But the Mexican lawsuit alleges that gun makers are knowingly aiding illegal gun sales that contribute to the trafficking of guns into Mexico. Court decision

1/12/24  According to the NLEOMF, 47 law enforcement officers were shot and killed in 2023. That’s 27% fewer than the 63 who supposedly suffered that fate in 2022. Overall line-of-duty deaths fell to 136 from 224, a 39% decrease. ABC News reports this as a significant improvement. But official FBI data paints a grimmer picture. Felonious officer deaths (meaning, on purpose) only dropped by one, from 61 in 2022 to 60 in 2023. These numbers are much fewer than the 73 in 2021 but much worse than the 41 felonious deaths in 2019 and the 46 in 2020.

1/2/24  An early-morning shooting at a central Los Angeles warehouse and manufacturing district left a woman and a man in their twenties dead and wounded eight others, at least one critically. According to a witness, “hundreds” of celebrants had gathered during the midnight hour for an unsanctioned New Year’s party when at least one person opened fire. Police were nearby and rushed in, but the shooter was already gone. Gang activity is not presently suspected.

12/28/23  As two Florida brothers, ages 14 and 15, argued over a Christmas present at Grandma’s house, their 23-year old sister intervened. That led the 14-year old to shoot her in the chest, inflicting a fatal wound. His brother then used his gun to shoot and wound the 14-year old. Arrested for “numerous car burglaries” earlier this year, the brothers were known to pack guns, which are easily purchased on local streets, “all the time.”

12/11/23  Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 when he used his parents’ handgun to kill four classmates and wound seven other persons at Michigan’s Oxford High School in November 2021, drew life without parole on his plea of guilty to multiple counts of murder. Just before being sentenced, Crumbley apologized to his victims and their families and told the judge that “any sentence that they ask for, I ask that you do impose it on me.” (See 12/1/21, 12/2/21, 12/10/21, 10/25/22 and 2/7/24 updates)

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.

12/7/23  Mass shootings continue to dominate the headlines. In Vancouver (WA), a man opened fire in his household, killing his wife, their two daughters and his adult brother. He then committed suicide. He  apparently texted his intentions to a friend, but four hours passed before his message was read. And in Las Vegas, a Southern professor who was turned down for a job at UNLV roamed one of its buildings, shooting three persons dead and critically wounding a fourth. Anthony Polito, 67, was killed by police.

12/5/23  According to the Washington Post mass shooting database, there have been 38 “mass killings with guns” - meaning four or more persons shot dead, other than the gunman - so far this year. That’s two more than in all of 2022 and a record high since WaPo began tracking these incidents in 2006, when there were 24.

11/29/23  Kim and Michael Clinkunbroomer, the parents of slain L.A. County deputy sheriff Bryan Clinkunbroomer, are suing the county because excessive overtime work demands allegedly left their son insufficiently alert to avoid being shot at ambush while seated in his patrol car last September. His alleged murderer, Kevin Cataneo Salazar, has pled not guilty to murder by reason of insanity. (See 9/18/23 update)

11/16/23  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.)

10/11/23  TSA has seized thirty-six loaded guns from travelers at Baltimore-Washington airport checkpoints this year. That’s one more than the total last year. Similar issues beset Dulles and National airports. This year’s gun seizures presently exceed 5,000 nationwide, and it’s expected that the year-end total will break the record set in 2022, when 6,542 guns were seized. And nearly all were loaded. (See 2/21/23 update)

9/18/23  Authorities have detained “a person of interest” in the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Bryan Clinkunbroomer two evenings ago. Shot and killed while sitting in his patrol car outside the Palmdale Sheriff’s station, the eight-year LASD veteran was a third-generation deputy with an excellent reputation. Surveillance video depicts a dark gray car stopping behind the parked cruiser, and a passerby found him in his vehicle.  No reason for the apparent ambush has been revealed. (See 11/29/23 update)

7/24/23  Huu Can Tran, the 72-year old man who opened fire in a Monterey Park, Calif. dance studio in January,  killing eleven and wounding nine, had reportedly sent a “manifesto” to the FBI days before the massacre. Its contents have not been released. Tran had also recently complained to police that his family “defrauded and tried to poison him.” House members have since introduced Federal bills to fund local efforts to increase awareness of Red Flag laws, including by families that are not English-proficient. (See 1/24/23 update)

7/17/23  Fargo, North Dakota police officer Jake Wallin was shot and killed and two colleagues were severely wounded as they arrived at an intersection to investigate a traffic accident. A witness said that the shooter, Mohamad Barakat, 37, a local resident, opened fire on the officers while standing by a vehicle that was parked nearby. He was in turn shot and killed by a fourth officer. Barakat wasn’t involved in the collision and his motive is unknown. North Dakota allows unlicensed concealed carry.

Four elderly residents of a quiet Hampton, Georgia subdivision were inexplicably shot and killed by a pedestrian armed with a handgun. Andre Longmore, 40, then stole an SUV and drove off. Officers spotted him at an intersection a day later and there was an exchange of gunfire. Longmore was chased into a nearby townhome, where another shootout ensued. One deputy and two police officers were wounded, none critically. Longmore was killed.

6/28/23  Soon after the George Floyd episode schools around the U.S., including in Denver, took police out of the campuses. But shootings this year on and near Denver high schools led parents to demand that officers return. So Denver PD is sending them back, but with rules “aimed at ensuring that the police stay in their lane.” Officers will get special training about child development and let school authorities handle all misconduct that falls short of a clear criminal violation. (See 3/23/23 update)

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.

6/19/23  Mass shootings rocked the U.S. during Juneteenth weekend. Early Saturday morning gunfire outside a house party in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson wounded eight persons ages 16 to 24, two critically. That evening a man fired on a crowd gathered by a rural Washington State amphitheater as it hosted a music festival, killing two and wounding three. He was wounded by deputies and arrested. And a few hours later one person was killed and twenty-two were wounded as gunfire broke out at a gathering in a Chicago-area strip mall. According to Willowbrook police, “an unknown number of suspects fired multiple rounds from multiple weapons into the crowd.” No arrests were immediately made.

Early this morning a shooting broke out in Denver, about a mile from Ball Arena, as fans celebrated their hometown basketball team’s victory. Ten persons were wounded including the man who opened fire. Three of those he shot are in critical condition.

6/7/23  Gunfire erupted as students, friends and family members gathered in a park outside a downtown Richmond, Virginia theater that had just hosted a high-school graduation. Two persons were killed and five were wounded, one critically. A 19-year old male who was caught with “multiple weapons” is in custody. Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears blamed gangs and demanded heavier punishment. “How many more people have to die before we say you're going to jail. We're going to lock you up and there's not going to be any bail so that we can have safety in our communities. When does that happen?”

5/30/23  As Memorial Day came to a close gunfire broke out during a dispute between two groups gathered on a Hollywood, Florida beach. Nine persons ranging in age from one to sixty-five were wounded, none fatally. One person was arrested; another is being sought. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 263 shootings this year where at least four persons were wounded or killed excluding the shooter, and 23 mass murders where at least four victims died.

5/11/23  Four Chicago-area teens, ages 16-19, have been charged with murdering Chicago police officer Aréanah Preston on May 6. Officer Preston, who was still in uniform, had just ended her shift and was at her home’s front door when they ran up, shot her dead, and took her gun. They are also accused of engaging in a two-day crime spree involving burglary, robbery, car theft and other crimes. Officer Preston, 24, had been on the job for three years.

4/12/23  Newport News, Va. prosecutors charged the mother of a first-grader who used her gun to shoot a teacher with child neglect, a felony, and reckless storage of a firearm, a misdemeanor. According to authorities, the child is “acutely” disabled and a parent usually sits with him in class. But neither was present that day. His mother’s lawyer said that the gun had been in a high shelf and had a trigger lock. (See 1/7, 10, 14 and 26 updates)

3/23/23  Austin Lyle, a 17-year old who had been transferred to Denver’s East High School because of “behavioral issues” shot and seriously wounded two employees as they patted him down for weapons, which was done each day when he arrived. Lyle then fled. On February 13 a 16-year old student was fatally shot as he sat in his car near the school. In 2020 Denver’s school board took police out of the schools because of fears they “harmed students of color and perpetuated the school-to-prison pipeline.” Austin Lyle was later found dead. Denver has now said that armed officers will return to its high schools. (See 6/28/23 update)

2/28/23  On the heels of a January massacre in which two members of the Norteño gang murdered six members of a family associated with a rival gang, authorities served search warrants at multiple residences in Tulare County, Calif. Drugs and parts for assembling “ghost” guns and assault rifles were seized, and twenty-six Norteños were arrested. A coordinated sweep of state prison cells led to the seizure of “cellphones, weapons and ‘gang intelligence’” (see 2/4/23 update).

2/21/23  Commercial air travelers are only permitted to transport firearms in checked baggage. In 2022 the TSA seized 6,542 guns from persons who tried to carry them through security checkpoints. Eighty-eight percent were reportedly loaded. According to TSA head David Pekoske, gun seizures are at an “all-time high” because “in society there are more people carrying firearms nowadays.” (See 10/11/23 update)

2/20/23  A profusion of inaccurate leads, including false reports of gunfire at multiple locations, and the mystifying complexities of a university campus with 400 buildings greatly complicated the response to the February 13 massacre at Michigan State University. Anthony McRae, the 43-year old man who opened fire in the Student Union and a nearby building, killing three students and wounding five, was later found off campus, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

2/14/23  On Monday evening a 43-year old gunman burst into a Michigan State University classroom and the Student Union and opened fire. Three students were killed and five were wounded. Hours later an “alert citizen” spotted Anthony McRae some miles away in Lansing, where he resides. He committed suicide as police closed in. A note threatening schools in New Jersey was found in his pockets. McRae, who is not connected with MSU, was convicted in Lansing three years ago of concealed carry and served a term of probation. A neighbor described McRae as “wild” and a “hair-raiser” and said that he previously heard him doing “target practice” in his home.

2/4/23  After being wounded in a shootout with ATF agents, Norteño gang member Angel “Nanu” Uriarte, 35, and his partner, Noah David Beard, 25, were arrested for perpetrating a massacre at a Tulare County, Calif. residence last month. Summoned to the home by a panic-stricken resident, deputies found the bodies of six persons, ranging from a 10-month old baby to a 72-year old grandmother. It’s believed that two members of the family belonged to the rival Sureño gang (see 2/28/23 update).

2/2/23  D.C. resident Isaiah Trotman, 31, is under arrest after embarking on a shooting rampage on the capital city’s transit system. Two persons were hospitalized with leg wounds and a long-serving Metro employee, Robert Cunningham, 64, was shot dead when he tried to intervene. During his spree, Trotman put his gun to the head of a bus rider who was on his cellphone and, while flaunting his gun, told a passer-by, “I’m the killmonger today.”

2/1/23  More shootings rocked the land. A drive-by in a chronically troubled Lakeland, Florida neighborhood left eleven persons wounded, two critically. Police found packaged marijuana and believe the incident was related to drug sales. (Note: alleged shooter was later killed by police. Click here.) In a well-to-do area of Montclair, Calif., an elderly couple and their middle-aged son were found shot dead in the couple’s home. It’s not believed to be a murder-suicide. And in Omaha, Nebraska, where openly carrying firearms is legal, a man in his 30’s entered a Target store with an AR-15 type rifle and “a dozen magazines.” He randomly opened fire. No one was hit, and responding officers shot him dead.

1/30/23  A wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood nestled next to Beverly Hills became the scene of another mass shooting early Saturday morning as a “gun battle” broke out in front of a rental home. When it was over three women ages 26 to 33 lay dead in a parked car and four other persons were wounded, two critically. Police identified the deceased as residents of Illinois and Arizona and said that the home’s residents and other witnesses left before their arrival. “More than thirty shots” were fired, and the episode was described as definitely “not random.”

1/26/23  According to San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus, Zhao Chunli, the 66-year old Half-Moon Bay farmworker who shot and killed seven coworkers, also mostly elderly, “specifically targeted” his victims. It didn’t seem to be about race or ethnicity: the wounded man and two of the dead were of Mexican ancestry, and the other five men killed were, like their murderer, of Asian descent (see 1/24/23 update).

A badly wounded teacher prepares to sue the Newport News school district over revelations that administrators ignored repeated warnings over hours that the student who shot her was indeed armed. Another student had tearfully reported being shown the gun during lunch hour but threatened not to tell, and the teacher who unsuccessfully searched the bookbag thought the student hid the gun in his pockets. Meanwhile the district superintendent has been let go - with $502,000 severance (see 1/20/23 update).

1/24/23  With another victim succumbing to their wounds, the death toll of the shooting at the Monterey Park dance studio now stands at eleven. Tran’s weapon has been identified as a MAC-10 pistol, which is banned in California. Investigators now theorize that he was suffering from emotional issues and was driven by jealousy. Tran had recently complained to police of fraud and theft and said that his family had tried to poison him decades ago. A search of his residence turned up a rifle, a large amount of ammunition, and indications that he was making silencers. (See 7/24/23 update)

That massacre took place on Saturday, January 21, the eve of the Lunar New Year. Only two days later, on January 23, another elderly Asian man opened fire with a pistol at two farm facilities in California’s Half-Moon Bay region, just south of San Francisco. Chunli Zhao, 67, an agricultural worker, shot seven colleagues dead and wounded one. He then parked in a Sheriff’s lot and was arrested. Including the massacre in Monterey Park and the murder of six at a Tulare County residence on January 16, California has endured three massacres in eight days (see 1/26/23 and 2/4/23 updates).

Shootings aren’t just a California problem. So far no one has died, but a dozen were wounded when shooting erupted in a Baton Rouge nightclub early Sunday morning, January 22. Gunplay isn’t new to the city. Another early-morning shooting left nine wounded near the Southern University campus last October.

Continuing “a wave of violence” that began last year, two youths were fatally shot and an adult  was wounded in a “targeted” shooting at a Des Moines, Iowa alternative school. Police detained three youths who were in a car that matched a description of the assailants’ vehicle. One youth had to be chased down. Along with “several” non-fatal shootings, the metro area has suffered “at least ten homicides” since early December. Officers also recently killed a 16-year old who allegedly pointed a gun.

1/23/23  Saturday night, on the eve of the Lunar New Year, a 72-year old Asian male who had patronized a Monterey Park, Calif. dance studio entered the packed hall and opened fire with an “assault pistol”, killing ten and wounding an equal number. His gun was a 9mm. pistol with an extended magazine, reportedly illegal in California. Huu Can Tran then burst into a dance studio in a nearby community, but patrons wrestled away his gun. Police later found Tran dead in his van, where he committed suicide with another gun. Located on the Eastern fringes of Los Angeles County, Monterey Park is a modest city of about 61,000 persons, predominantly of Asian descent.

1/20/23  On the day that he shot his teacher, the six-year old Virginia boy was in his first week of coming to school alone. During the preceding period, he had been in a “specialized care plan” that required he be brought to class and monitored by his parents. The child, who suffers from an “acute disability” whose precise nature has not been disclosed, remains in the custody of social services. His teacher has been released from the hospital and is recovering at home (see 1/14/23 and 1/26/23 updates).

1/17/23  One week after a drug-related search at a rural California home netted one arrest and the seizure of guns and narcotics, the residence was struck by suspected members of a Mexican drug cartel. Six persons, including a newborn, were shot and killed. According to authorities, meth is produced and both “legal and illegal” marijuana are grown in Tulare County, which is the birthplace of a leading figure of the cartel.

1/14/23  As the class day began at Newport News’ Richneck Elementary School an “administrator” was told that a six-year old student might have a pistol in his backpack. So the pack was examined but no gun was found, and the student went on to class. Two and one-half hours later he used a 9mm. pistol to shoot and gravely wound a teacher during a class lesson. Prior information indicates that he drew it from his person. Funding has now been allocated to install metal detectors at every school in the district (see 1/20/23 update).

1/10/23  According to the Newport News, VA police chief, the gun used by the six-year old to shoot his teacher was a Taurus 9mm. pistol that his mother had legally bought. The child brought it to school in his backpack, and “intentionally” drew it from his person and fired one round at the teacher while she was lecturing. There was no dispute or altercation. Police found the pistol on the floor near the student’s desk.

1/7/22  In Newport News, Virginia, a classroom “altercation” between a six-year old boy and his female teacher led the first-grader to pull a gun and fire, gravely wounding her. He didn’t fire again and no one else was hurt. Parents were summoned and the school closed up shop. Given the child’s age, all that can be done is to declare him “in need of services” and provide treatment.

12/17/22  Two-and-one-half years in Federal prison. That’s the sentence handed down to Jamel Danzy, who straw-purchased (bought for someone else) the pistol that two brothers, Eric and Emonte Morgan, used to shoot and kill Chicago police officer Ella French last year. Danzy admitted to an ATF agent that he bought the gun for Eric Morgan, who as a felon couldn’t do it himself. U.S. District Judge Gettleman gave Danzy, a “college-educated” man who expressed great remorse, half the maximum term.

10/25/22  Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year old student who shot and killed four students and wounded seven other persons last November at Michigan’s Oxford High School pled guilty to all charges, including four counts of murder. He used a 9mm. pistol that his father bought for him a few days prior to the massacre. His parents, who were warned that their son had made lethal threats and needed mental treatment, are jailed awaiting trial on involuntary manslaughter for making the gun accessible. (See 12/2/21, 12/10/21 and 12/11/23 updates.)

9/3/22  In reaction to the Supreme Court’s recent Bruen decision that in effect enshrines the right to carry a gun, California legislators crafted a bill that tightened background checks and training requirements for gun-carry permits and expanded the  places where guns are barred. But the law’s support wasn’t enough to pass it under special rules that would make it immediately effective. So the “Blue” state’s severely chastened legislators will have to try again next year.

8/27/22  As of last September, Texas enabled all residents 21 or over to carry a handgun, openly or concealed, without a permit. Relying on the U.S. Constitution’s “original” intent, Texas Federal district judge Mark T. Pittman has now extended that privilege to persons 18 or older. Anticipating a challenge, he stayed the ruling for thirty days. (See 8/31/21 update)

8/5/22  Located just outside of Minneapolis, “The Mall of America” is the largest in the land, with its own theme park. And on August 4 it was the scene of chaos as shoppers ran for their lives when a gunman opened fire by the Nike store after a confrontation between two groups. No one was shot, but the huge complex remained closed through today. On New Year’s eve a shooting at the mall wounded two. At present the mall does not search patrons or deploy metal detectors.

7/28/22  Indiana resident Jamel Danzy pled guilty in Federal court to straw purchase. He admitted buying a .22 Glock pistol at a Hammond dealer on behalf of Chicago man Eric Morgan, who as a felon couldn’t buy a gun. Morgan and his brother have been charged with murdering Chicago police officer Ella French and critically wounding her partner during a traffic stop last August (see 8/12/21 and 12/17/12/21 updates.)

7/19/22  Local police had filed a "clear and present danger" report with Illinois State police notifying them of dangerous behavior by Highland Park shooter Crimo. But he did not have a gun I.D. card, which Illinois requires to have or buy guns, and had not submitted an application, so the report was tossed. Three months later Crimo’s father sponsored him for a card, and Crimo soon bought several guns. An emergency rule was just enacted to retain warning reports even if there is no gun ID or app. on file.

7/6/22  Prosecutors filed seven murder counts against Highland Park (IL) shooter Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III. Police were called about him twice in 2019: once when he attempted suicide, and again when he threatened to kill his family. Officers took away a knife collection but say they lacked reason to arrest. Still, they filed a "clear and present danger" report with State police. Three months later Crimo’s father sponsored him for a firearms I.D. card, which Illinois requires to buy or have guns. Over time Crimo would legally buy five firearms, including the “AR-15-type rifle” he used in the massacre.

7/4/22   At least sixteen persons were shot, six fatally, soon after the start of a daytime Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, a “peaceful” and prosperous city of 30,000 just north of Chicago. Police arrested Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, 22, the self-styled YouTube rapper “Awake”. He reportedly used a ladder to climb onto a roof, then opened fire with a “high-powered rifle,” which was recovered. One of his rap videos repeatedly displays an image of a cartoon character aggressively wielding a rifle. (Click here for our brief version of the video, and here for an image of the rifle.)

7/1/22  Citing a recent Supreme Court decision invalidating New York State’s requirement that gun-carry applicants show “good cause,” four CCW permit holders in the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit demanding they be allowed to pack guns while riding its transit system. Their action disputes its inclusion in the city’s list of sensitive areas but doesn’t challenge the notion that certain places merit being off-limits to guns.

California’s attorney general announced that the Supreme Court opinion striking the “good cause” requirement for gun carry will lead to its removal from his State’s code as well. But Rob Bonta said “an assessment of dangerousness” including “arrests, convictions, restraining orders” and such will remain in effect. A Senate bill amending the law and specifying places where guns can’t be carried is in the works.

6/24/22  Applicants for gun carry permits, ruled the Supreme Court, need not show “good cause.” But the Court didn’t rule out background checks, mental health assessments, training requirements nor restrictions on places where guns can be brought, such as parks and schools. So for States and localities that want to restrict gun possession in public, that’s where the focus will shift.

6/21/22  Massacres such as in Uvalde  “represent about 1 percent or less of gun violence in America, and yet soak up about 95 percent of the oxygen in terms of the national conversation on gun violence,” complains a violence researcher. That other 99 percent is comprised of “ordinary” violence, usually done with handguns. Such as the recent Harlem shooting that left a college basketball star dead and eight others wounded. And the consequences of that everyday violence are unmeasurable. Consider its effects on Ernest Willingham, who recently testified before the Senate about growing up in a violence-beset Chicago neighborhood, where his father, brother, and a cousin were shot and his best friend was killed. UPDATE: Willingham testified on June 15. Then on June 20 someone shot his niece. Two days later, a friend was hit by random gunfire while sitting in a car.

6/17/22  A 71-year old Alabama churchgoer opened fire with a concealed handgun at a church potluck, killing two elderly parishioners and wounding a third. He was physically restrained for police. Calling himself “Mr. Smith,” he had occasionally attended services but was otherwise a cipher. (Note: the wounded person, an 84-year old woman, succumbed to her injuries the next day.)

6/16/22  Justin Flores, the 35-year old man who shot and killed two El Monte (CA) police officers responding to a reported stabbing in a motel room, had multiple felony convictions dating back to 2011 and was barred from having guns. Indeed, he was on felony probation for a 2021 conviction for illegally possessing a firearm. His supervising officer had just requested that the probation be revoked because Flores assaulted his girlfriend, but instead of an arrest a hearing was scheduled for the near future.

6/15/22  Two El Monte (CA) police officers, one a 22-year veteran, the other with less than a year on the job, were shot and killed as they responded to a possible stabbing in a motel room. Gunfire broke out when they knocked on the door, which was reportedly pierced by bullets. Justin William Flores, 35, who reportedly served prison time for domestic violence, was identified as the shooter. He was also killed. According to the NLEOMF, 23 officers have been killed by gunfire in 2022 compared to 26 last year.

6/13/22  Three dead and four wounded. That’s the toll from an early morning “party” where a well-known rapper had performed for a gathering of teens. It happened in Los Angeles’ fraught Boyle Heights district. Neighbors, who said police had been called about prior “parties” at the same place, report hearing two bursts of gunfire. But “who is a suspect and who is a victim” is as yet unknown.

6/7/22  In the wake of the Buffalo massacre, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a package of ten gun-control laws. All semi-automatic rifles must be licensed and may only be bought and possessed by persons twenty-one or older. Body armor may only be sold to police and security personnel, the Red Flag system was strengthened, and new guns must be micro-stamped to help link them to recovered cartridges.

5/31/22  After recent mass shootings at a Buffalo market and a Texas elementary school, AP asked Governors for their reaction. About half responded. While there was agreement across Party about improving mental health care, answers to questions such as “Should people younger than 21 be prohibited from buying semi-automatic guns? Should ammunition magazines be limited to no more than 10 bullets?” provoked a deep split, with only one Republican saying “yes.” But Canada’s reacting differently. Later this year it plans to “cap” the number of handguns by freezing any further sales or transfers. Military-style rifles, already highly restricted, will be banned, and those not “made completely inoperable” will be bought back.

5/26/22  An “active shooter” is defined as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” The FBI’s 2021 “Active Shooter Incidents” report indicates there were 61 such incidents in 2021, with 103 persons killed and 140 wounded other than the shooter. The toll was the highest in five years and up sharply from 2020, when there were forty shootings, causing 38 deaths and leaving 126 wounded. Twelve incidents in 2021 and five in 2020 met the “mass killing” definition, meaning three or more deaths other than the shooter.

5/11/22  In California all gun transfers, including between private persons, must go through a background check. Gun and purchaser information is perpetually stored in a State database. That data is an integral part of a new, State-funded effort at U.C. Davis to measure gun violence and assess and develop preventive measures. But gun-rights groups object to the project’s intrusion into privacy and have challenged the Constitutionality of the authorizing legislation in State and Federal courts.

5/4/22  Sacramento prosecutors charged Dandrae Martin, his brother Smiley Martin, and Mtula Payton with murdering three women who got caught up in the April 3 shootout between rival gangs. Both Martins were wounded and are in custody; Payton is a fugitive. Three gang members also died, but it’s thought that focusing on innocent victims would avoid claims of self-defense (see 4/8 update.)

4/25/22  FBI Director Christopher Wray bemoans the lack of attention given to the killings of police officers. Seventy-three were feloniously killed in 2021, a 59 percent increase over the forty-six murdered in 2020 and a “20-year high.” Director Wray attributs the increase to a jump in violent crime, more criminal involvement by juveniles, a surge of gun trafficking across State lines, and an “alarming frequency of some of the worst of the worst getting back out on the streets.”

4/20/22  A recent shootout between Sacramento gang members is providing support for California state lawmakers as they push a set of gun control measures. One bill would help citizens get around a Federal law that limits suits against gun manufacturers. Another would severely restrict the sale of gun parts that could be assembled into “ghost” (unserialized) guns. And a third would mandate that gun dealers install digital surveillance systems.

4/18/22  Another weekend of violence besieged America. In Pittsburgh, a gunfight involving pistols and rifles broke out in and around a rental home being used for a large party, killing two young persons and wounding eight. No arrests were immediately reported. In Columbia, South Carolina, patrons fled for their lives as a shootout apparently involving three armed men broke out in a busy shopping mall. Nine were wounded, and police arrested a 22-year old for unlawfully carrying a pistol. And also in South Carolina, gunfire broke out in a nightclub near Charleston, wounding nine. For AP’s overview of recent mass shootings click here.

4/8/22  Brothers Dandrae Martin, 26 and Smiley Martin, 27 were arrested after an April 3 shootout between rival gang members in a crowded Sacramento entertainment district that killed six and wounded twelve, including innocent bystanders. Both were wounded, and Smiley remains hospitalized. Both are felons and face ex-con with gun charges. Smiley also faces a machinegun charge, as his gun was converted to fire full auto. Against prosecutor’s wishes - Smiley was a long-time gunslinger and considered very dangerous - he recently gained early release from a ten-year prison term. According to an AP investigation, his lenient treatment was enabled by California Prop. 57, which redefined crimes considered most dangerous and vastly expanded opportunities for good credits and early release. Three of the dead were reportedly gang members.

4/7/22  An academic study of California registered voters who lived in households occupied by two to four persons between 2004-2016 revealed that “cohabitants of handgun owners were more than twice as likely to die by homicide as neighbors living in gun-free homes.” In homes known to have guns, victims were most frequently slain by their handgun-owning “spouses and intimate partners.” Firearms ownership information was drawn from State records of gun transfers, and persons who reportedly acquired guns during the decades before the study began were excluded.

4/4/22  Three women and three men lay dead and a dozen more were wounded, several critically. That’s the toll from an early Sunday-morning exchange of gunfire that erupted during an altercation in a central Sacramento entertainment district. “Multiple shooters” are being sought in the worst mass shooting in California - and one of the worst in the U.S. - so far this year.

3/25/22  In violence-racked Columbus, Georgia, a 32-year-old woman went to a gun store to buy a pistol. “Youth do not respect older people. Today, the young are wicked,” said the Black single mother. A friend was recently robbed, and the hairstylist, who carries tips, wants a CCW license. That may soon be unnecessary, as a bill to allow permitless carry will likely soon head to the Governor’s desk. Meanwhile residents keep stocking up. Last year the state’s second-largest city recorded 63 murders. And as gunfights proliferate, stray bullets have killed children in cars and old men on the sidewalk.

3/22/22  Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Bill 1296, making his state the twenty-fourth to allow persons over 18 years of age who are neither felons nor dangerously mentally ill to carry handguns, concealed or not, without a permit. As in other States where permit-less concealed carry has been approved, Indiana’s police superintendent and its police chiefs association objected.

3/21/22  An exchange of gunfire between two thus-far unidentified persons at a car show in a small Arkansas town killed one bystander and left twenty-seven others wounded. Organized by the Hood-Nic Foundation, the yearly event includes stage performances and acts as a fund-raiser for local students. It’s held in Dumas, population about 5,600, with 27% living in poverty. Arkansas, which earns an “F” from Giffords, allows unlimited gun carry and had America’s ninth-highest gun death rate in 2019.

Effective in June, adult residents of Ohio will be allowed to pack concealed handguns, no training or permit required. A similar measure was just signed into law in Alabama. It will take effect in January. Both laws were opposed by gun-control and law enforcement groups. Police particularly objected to the Ohio measure, which states that armed persons need not “promptly inform” officers that they’re packing. In all, twenty-three States have passed laws allowing concealed carry without a permit.

3/9/22  Six Iowa teens, ages 14-17, have been charged with murder and attempted murder in a drive-by shooting that killed the 15-year old whom they targeted as he stood in a group outside a Des Moines high school. Two female students who were nearby, ages 16 and 18, were also struck by bullets; one is reportedly in serious condition and the other is critical. Police recovered thirty-five shell casings, twenty from the scene and the remainder from the three vehicles used in the attack.

3/7/22  According to a new medical study firearms became the leading cause of potential years of life lost (PLL) in the United States in 2017, surpassing the toll from motor vehicle crashes. PLL is a standard measure that reports the difference between the age of 80 and the actual age at death. Males comprised 85.4% of the 38,929 gun deaths in 2018. Over a decade-long period, White males suffered the most deaths from gun suicides, and Black males the most deaths from gun homicides.

2/2/22  Law enforcement officials warn that if violence continues apace, last year’s decade-high toll of slain police officers could be easily surpassed. According to the Gun Violence Archive, hostile gunfire injured twenty-eight officers and killed four in January 2022 compared to seventeen injured and three slain last year. It’s claimed that, among other things, increased leniency in charging and the reduction or elimination of bail have led to the prompt return of dangerous offenders to the street.

1/31/22  On January 27, Roland Caballero, a three-time felon pending charges for aggravated robbery,  opened fire with an alleged machinegun as Houston police officers responded to a domestic disturbance. His estimated 50-round barrage caused three officers to sustain “non-life threatening” wounds. Caballero eventually surrendered and is hospitalized with a bullet wound to the neck.

1/14/22  According to the FBI seventy-three U.S. law enforcement officers were feloniously killed in 2021. LEOKA data indicates that’s 59 percent higher than in 2020, when the toll was forty-six, and 52 percent more than in 2019, when it was forty-eight.

1/8/22  In a Washington Post op-ed, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill), chair of the Judiciary Committee, cites the killing of Chicago police officer Ella French with a gun bought at a store on a felon’s behalf as an example of the risks of “straw” purchase. Senator Durbin and colleagues have introduced a “bipartisan bill,” the “Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2021” that specifically makes purchasing guns for legally unqualified persons a Federal crime.

1/3/22  Gun dealers must run a Federal background check on each buyer (not each gun). In 2020 there were a record 3,937,066 checks, one-third more than in 2019. This surge in gun buying has been attributed to fears brought on by the pandemic. While these numbers receded in 2021 (2,717,458 checks  through November) they remain higher than in 2019. Airport gun seizures are also up. TSA seized over 5,700 firearms in 2021; 2019’s full-year total was 4,432. And with schools reopened 2021 experienced a record 42 school shootings. This century’s previous high was 30, in 2018 (see 12/19/22 update).

12/31/21  The middle-aged Denver man whose armed rampage killed five persons was reportedly acquainted with four of his victims “through business or personal relationships.” He had apparently named them and written about his intentions in self-published “novels” that he posted online.

12/29/21  An armed 47-year old Denver man who was “known to police” but not wanted burst into two tattoo shops, a home and a hotel in Denver and Lakewood, killing five persons and wounding two. One of the wounded, a police officer, shot him dead. Lyndon James McLeod, who once owned a Denver business, reportedly preselected his victims, but his actual motive has not been released. Colorado has suffered a string of mass shootings; most recently, at a Boulder-area supermarket, where ten were killed.

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. (See 12/10/21, 10/25/22 and 12/11/23 updates)

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  In 2015 Massachusetts imposed laws tightening gun licensing and requiring background checks for all gun sales, including private-party transfers. However, a recently-published study that studied the resulting increases in the “percentage of all denied applications, the percentage of denied applications due to unsuitability, and the percentage of denied applications due to statutory disqualification” revealed that the new restrictions had “little to no effect on violent crimes.”

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. (See 12/2/21 update.)

11/16/21  Yesterday, during the noon hour, six Aurora (CO) teens, ages 14-18, were shot in a park one block away from the high school they attend. Each is expected to recover. A witness reported that he hard a large barrage of gunfire, “30 to 50 shots...but at least 30,” and police recovered multiple bullet casings of different caliber. None of the victims were reportedly armed, and a drive-by is suspected.

10/27/21  According to the FBI many more law enforcement officers are being fatally assaulted this year. Sixty-one officers were feloniously killed as of October 21, 2021, compared with forty-one during this period in 2020. That’s a forty-nine percent increase. Accidental deaths are also up, from 39 to 48.

10/26/21  Yesterday afternoon an unnamed person entered a Boise mall and, for reasons as yet unknown, opened fire, killing two and wounding four including a police officer. He was in turn shot and critically wounded by another officer. This incident follows on an October 12 shooting at a U.S. Postal Service facility in Memphis, where an employee shot and killed two supervisors, then committed suicide.

10/21/21  On October 14 a 14-year old member of a Los Angeles gang shot and wounded an LAPD detective who was driving to work. He was arrested in the area with the unserialized “ghost gun” used in the attack. That case led to a search warrant and the discovery of an illicit ghost-gun making operation in a tattoo parlor used by the gang. An LAPD report reveals that 863 ghost guns were seized during the first six months of 2021, compared with 217 during that period in 2020. Detectives have connected these untraceable guns to over one-hundred violent crimes this year, including 24 murders and eight attempts. San Diego recently enacted a law barring ghost guns, and Los Angeles seeks to follow in its footsteps.

10/15/21  Chicago police officer Carlos Yanez, critically wounded in a shooting that killed his patrol partner, officer Ella French, was released after two months in rehabilitation. Wounded in the eye, cheek, brain and back, Officer Yanez is paralyzed on one side of his body and must use a wheelchair. But his spirit is strong. According to the officer’s father, his son “has many plans for the future” and wants to work with kids in the city’s beset Englewood area. For the GoFundMe campaign click here.

10/11/21  Three Minnesota men, ages 29, 32 and 33, each with a substantial criminal record, were arrested for shooting it out in a packed St. Paul bar early Sunday morning, October 10. Their gunfire left them and eleven others wounded and killed a 27-year old veterinary technician. She was the city’s 32nd. murder victim this year. St. Paul had 34 homicides in 2020, same as in the record-setting year of 1992.

9/26/21  Sixteen Chicagoans were shot, two fatally, between Friday and Saurday night. Among the wounded was a police officer. She and her partner had stepped out of their patrol car to render aid when gunfire rang out and she was struck in the foot. “I will be back soon,” she promises. She is the 46th. Chicago cop to be shot at this year, and the twelfth wounded. Two months ago officer Ella French was killed and her partner was wounded while they patrolled one of the city’s most dangerous areas.

9/24/21  In Collierville, Tennessee, “a prosperous community with a low crime rate,” the reportedly disgruntled employee of a vendor entered a Kroger supermarket brimming with customers and employees and opened fire, killing one and wounding twelve. He then committed suicide. In July Tennessee enacted a law that allows adults to carry handguns openly or concealed without a permit. Asked then about mass shootings, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, who pushed the measure, said that stronger penalties for gun misuse, which also passed, “would help prevent gun crimes in the future.”

8/31/21  Except for convicted felons, as of Sept. 1, 2021, everyone in Texas, age 21 or over, will be allowed to carry a handgun openly or concealed, without a permit. State law previously allowed gun carry, but a permit was required. Texas law library summary  (See 8/27/22 update)

8/19/21  Laying in wait with a rifle, a violent, wanted felon wounded a San Bernardino, Calif. sheriff’s deputy who stopped his vehicle. Located by police SWAT officers the next day, he used a pistol to engage them in a gunfight. Ervin Olikong, 34, wounded two officers, neither fatally, before he was shot dead.

8/16/21  On August 12 a 22-year old British man obsessed with the “incel” movement used a shotgun to kill five persons, including his mother, and wound two others. Allegations that he committed an assault led London police to take his gun away in December 2020, but they returned it a month ago. According to the media, the lethal spree was Great Britain’s “first mass shooting in more than a decade.”

8/13/21  In Chicago’s violent Englewood neighborhood, a volley of bullets penetrate a home. Two sixteen-year old youths are struck; one, Cordell Bass, is killed. His mother and three nephews, ages 2, 5 and 6, escape injury. Bass’s mother, who said her son was under “house arrest” for a gun-related incident, thinks that he was killed by the same person who wounded her niece’s boyfriend some months earlier.

The pistol used by Joseph Jimenez, 20, to murder the couple at a Corona movie theater was described by sheriff’s deputies as an unserialized “ghost gun.” Jimemez was too young to purchase a handgun at retail. He had been at the movie theater with friends, but they left when his behavior made them uncomfortable. Officers recovered the gun and the male victim’s wallet at Jimenez’s home.

8/12/21  Chicago police superintendent David Brown blasted the Federal judge overseeing the straw purchase charge against Jamel Danzy for releasing him from custody pending trial. Danzy admitted he bought the gun for an acquaintance, Eric Morgan, who traveled to Indiana to pick it up. Morgan used the pistol several months later to murder CPD officer Ella French and critically wound her partner (see 12/17/22 update).

8/10/21  Chicago brothers Emonte Morgan, 21 and Eric Morgan, 22 were charged with murdering police officer Ella French. Both have serious criminal records, and Eric Morgan is a felon. Indiana resident Jamel Danzy admitted he acted as a “straw buyer” by buying the Glock pistol used in the killing at a store, then giving it to Eric Morgan, whose record prohibits him from buying guns. Danzy was Federally charged.

9/12/24  According to the New York Times, Illinois man John Elik is “Ivan the Troll,” the world-famous personna whose 3-D printed FGC-9 shoulder-fired assault pistol has become de rigueur for “terrorists, drug dealers and freedom fighters in at least 15 countries.” Under the umbrage of “Deterrence Dispensed,” “Ivan” and his lethal toy have been featured in a plethora of videos and podcasts. But Mr. Elik is a licensed gun manufacturer, so his activities in the U.S. seem perfectly legal.

9/9/24  Machinegun conversion devices (MCD’s), aka “auto sears”, are simple, drop-in devices that enable handguns and long guns to discharge “hundreds of bullets in mere minutes” with just one pull of the trigger. While they’ve long been illegal under Federal law, they’re readily available from shady overseas sources, and 3-D printers can easily churn them out. Their proliferation has become a major public safety threat, leading DOJ to establish a special program that combines the resources of “industry, academia, and government” to address the issue on a national basis. (See below post)

7/24/24  Chicago is suing Glock firearms for pouring pistols into the city that can be easily modified to full-auto fire using readily obtainable drop-in auto sears. Also named are two of Glock’s major Illinois customers, Lyons-based Midwest Sporting Goods and Oak-Forest based Lyons Sports Range, which “actively” solicit Chicagoans to buy these lethal Glock products. Lawyers from Everytown for Gun Safety are leading Chicago’s effort. (See above post)

2/22/24  Polymer80, the largest manufacturer of mail-order “ghost gun” kits, is paying Baltimore $1.2 million to settle a suit that accused it of fomenting violent crime. Polymer80’s so-called “80%” complete kits, which come with instructions for making a working gun, were reportedly used to make many of the 462 ghost guns seized by Baltimore police in 2023. Polymer80 agreed not to sell kits to state residents, and Maryland law now bans their possession. A lawsuit against a dealer who sold the kits is pending. (See 7/28/23 and below updates)

10/9/23  Polymer80’s pistol kits account for nearly nine out of ten ghost guns recovered by police. They have been used to commit murders throughout the U.S., and particularly by youths. After lawsuits and million-dollar-plus settlements with the District of Columbia and Los Angeles, it agreed to stop marketing its kits to residents of D.C. and all of California. Polymer80 obtained an injunction against a Federal rule outlawing its kits, but the Supreme Court allowed the rule to take effect while it reviews the case (see 7/28/23 and 2/22/24 updates).

9/25/23  In June 2017 U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez overthrew California’s ban on high-capacity magazines. Four years later he did the same to the State’s assault-weapons ban, which he called it “a failed experiment.” Neither of his moves survived appellate review. But a few days ago he issued another thumbs-down on the magazine ban. This time, though, he’s got implicit support from the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which required that gun laws have historical justification (see 12/1/21 update).

7/28/23  ATF’s ruling that parts kits for ghost guns are subject to full regulation as “firearms” was overturned by a Texas Federal court. Its decision applies nationwide, and the Fifth Circuit refused to stay the key aspects of its judgment. So the Biden Administration has appealed to the Supreme Court. “The district court’s universal vacatur is irreparably harming the public and the government by reopening the floodgates to the tide of untraceable ghost guns flowing into our nation’s communities” (See 10/9/23 and 2/22/24 updates)

6/14/23  House “Reds” passed a bill to repeal a new ATF rule, effective June 1, that imposes stiff registration requirements on rifles that are transformed into compact assault-style weapons by substituting a  “stabilizing brace” for the shoulder stock. Stabilizing braces have figured in mass shootings, most recently in Nashville. President Biden promised to veto the bill should it reach his desk. Some courts, though, have put the rule on hold while litigation by gun makers and enthusiasts proceeds.

5/24/23  “Stabilizing braces” that can transform handguns into shoulder-fired weapons were to be banned under a proposed Federal regulation. But the New-Orleans based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has put the ban on hold while it litigates a lawsuit against the rule that was brought by gun-rights advocates and a maker of the braces. In February the Fifth Circuit invalidated a Federal prohibition on gun possession by persons subject to domestic violence restraining orders.

3/8/23  A 2021 Missouri state law that nullified several key Federal gun laws and prohibited state and local officers from assisting in their enforcement was declared unconstitutional by a Federal judge. “At best, this statute causes confusion among state law enforcement officials who are deputized for federal task force operations, and at worst, is unconstitutional on its face,” said U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes. But Missouri’s Attorney General has pledged to challenge the ruling (see 2/17/22 update).

3/1/23  A new Berkeley/IGS poll reports a major Blue/Red split in views about violence and gun control. Nearly eight in ten “Blues”  but only slightly more than one in three “Reds” worry about becoming victims of gun violence. Almost seven in ten “Blues” but only one in ten “Reds” feel that tougher gun laws would cut down on mass shootings.  “Reds,” suburban and rural respondents are also far more protective of Second amendment rights. But the poll didn’t include respondents’ income level.

2/8/23  Making fond reference to the mother of Tyre Nichols, who attended his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden praised police efforts against crime but lamented that “what happened to Tyre in Memphis happens too often.” He urged that localities consider measures from the Floyd Act such as “banning chokeholds” and “restricting no-knock warrants,” which he already imposed on Federal agencies. And after warmly greeting another guest, Brandon Tsay, the young man who wrested the gun from the Monterey Park shooter, President Biden urged a renewed ban on assault weapons.

1/14/23  A new Federal rule has been enacted that prohibits attaching “stabilizing braces” so designed that they effectively transform handguns into short-barreled rifles. Unregulated manufacture and sale of these devices has allowed users to greatly enhance the accuracy of handgun fire while circumventing registration and other provisions of the National Firearms Act and State laws. Final rule

1/3/23  On March 24, 2021, two days after the Boulder supermarket massacre, Atlanta police arrested Rico Marley, 22, after he was spotted with six loaded guns, including an AR-15 style tile, in the bathroom of a Publix supermarket. But Georgia permits open carry, and Marley insisted he meant no harm. Felony charges were ultimately dismissed and he was released. But the times have changed. Two months later the homeless man was indicted for misdemeanor reckless conduct and he remains locked up without bail.

8/25/22  Now officially in effect, a new Federal regulation expands the requirement of affixing unique, traceable serial numbers to any part or parts kit that can be readily converted into a firearm, or into a “frame” or “receiver” for a firearm. Previously only completed “frames” or “receivers” had to be serialized. That led to the ready acquisition of guns by felons and underage persons and a proliferation of unserialized “ghost” guns that could not be traced to their source.

8/3/22  Amidst a spate of massacres, Georgia’s permissive gun-carry laws apparently led Atlanta to cancel its yearly Music Midtown Festival. In 2014 Georgia’s “Safe Carry Protection Act” enabled gun carry most everywhere. While a court decision has enabled long-term leaseholders to regulate gun possession on their premises, that privilege is not extended to short-term events such as the festival.

7/30/22  With two “Reds” in favor, and five “Blues” opposed, the House narrowly passed an assault weapons ban (217-213). It is slightly stiffer than the lapsed measure, as it bans rifles with detachable magazines that have only one special feature (a pistol grip, forward grip, folding stock, grenade launcher, barrel shroud or threaded barrel) instead of two. Semi-auto rifles with fixed magazines that can accept more than 15 rounds are also banned. It is expected to fail in the Senate. Bill text

7/14/22  Hundreds of persons, including survivors of the Highland Park Fourth of July massacre, marched on the U.S. Capitol to demand a new Federal assault weapons ban. Meanwhile, in reaction to massacres in Highland Park, Uvalde and Buffalo, and to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting State authority to regulate gun carry, several “blue” States including New Jersey, New York and California have enacted sweeping new measures to regulate gun possession and sale.

7/13/22  Passed under an urgency clause, thus taking effect immediately, a new California law requires that persons making or possessing unserialized guns (i.e., “ghost guns”) apply to the State Department of Justice for a serial number and permanently affix it to the weapon.

7/1/22  Citing a recent Supreme Court decision invalidating New York State’s requirement that gun-carry applicants show “good cause,” four CCW permit holders in the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit demanding they be allowed to pack guns while riding its transit system. Their action disputes its inclusion in the city’s list of sensitive areas but doesn’t challenge the notion that certain places merit being off-limits to guns.

California’s attorney general announced that the Supreme Court opinion striking the “good cause” requirement for gun carry will lead to its removal from his State’s code as well. But Rob Bonta said “an assessment of dangerousness” including “arrests, convictions, restraining orders” and such will remain in effect. A Senate bill amending the law and specifying places where guns can’t be carried is in the works.

6/25/22  Passed in the wake of recent massacres, the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” was signed into law. It enhances background checks to include juvenile records, helps fund State “Red Flag Laws” and mental health programs, includes “boyfriends” in the definition of domestic partners who may be barred from having guns, and specifically prohibits “straw” purchases (i.e. buying guns on behalf of unqualified persons). It does not create waiting periods or ban assault weapons.

6/24/22  Applicants for gun carry permits, ruled the Supreme Court, need not show “good cause.” But the Court didn’t rule out background checks, mental health assessments, training requirements nor restrictions on places where guns can be brought, such as parks and schools. So for States and localities that want to restrict gun possession in public, that’s where the focus will shift.

6/23/22  New York State, along with California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island, requires that persons wishing to carry a concealed handgun outside the home demonstrate a “special need.” According to a 6-3 decision by the Supreme Court, New York’s law “violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense.” Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan dissented (New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn. v, Bruen, no. 20-843, 6/23/22.) The Justice Department promptly announced its displeasure.

6/20/22  In the aftermath of mass shootings, as the Senate debate about stiffening gun laws continues, the gun lobby has come out swinging. Holding that “expansions of background checks, prohibitions on the ability of young adults to purchase firearms, red flag laws or grants therefor, or any number of other oppressive ideas...are an abrogation of your duty to protect the fundamental rights of the people,” one major pro-gun group, The Firearms Policy Coalition, opposes any compromise whatsoever.

6/14/22  A tentative agreement to mildly strengthen Federal gun laws is taking shape in the Senate. Background checks for gun buyers under 21 would include juvenile records, and the permissible delay would stretch to ten days. Definition of a gun dealer would include some persons who sell guns as a hobby, Federal grants would help States enact and enforce “Red Flag” laws, penalties for straw buyers would increase, and the prohibition on gun possession by domestic abusers would expand. Meanwhile, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed two bills into effect. A new law allows trained school employees to carry guns, and another abolishes the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed gun.

6/7/22  In the wake of the Buffalo massacre, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a package of ten gun-control laws. All semi-automatic rifles must be licensed and may only be bought and possessed by persons twenty-one or older. Body armor may only be sold to police and security personnel, the Red Flag system was strengthened, and new guns must be micro-stamped to help link them to recovered cartridges.

5/31/22  After recent mass shootings at a Buffalo market and a Texas elementary school, AP asked Governors for their reaction. About half responded. While there was agreement across Party about improving mental health care, answers to questions such as “Should people younger than 21 be prohibited from buying semi-automatic guns? Should ammunition magazines be limited to no more than 10 bullets?” provoked a deep split, with only one Republican saying “yes.” But Canada’s reacting differently. Later this year it plans to “cap” the number of handguns by freezing any further sales or transfers. Military-style rifles, already highly restricted, will be banned, and those not “made completely inoperable” will be bought back.

4/20/22  A recent shootout between Sacramento gang members is providing support for California state lawmakers as they push a set of gun control measures. One bill would help citizens get around a Federal law that limits suits against gun manufacturers. Another would severely restrict the sale of gun parts that could be assembled into “ghost” (unserialized) guns. And a third would mandate that gun dealers install digital surveillance systems.

4/12/22  DOJ submitted a new Federal rule that requires parts kits from which guns can be assembled to be treated like a gun: carry a serial number and be subject to a background check when sold at retail. Definitions of “frame or receiver,” the gun component that must be serialized, are broadened. Serial numbers must also be affixed to unserialized 3-D printed guns and guns assembled from parts that are presently in stock. During a 5-year period ending in December 2021 authorities recovered more than 45,000 such weapons (“ghost guns”); nearly 700 had been used in homicides and attempts.

President Joe Biden nominated a former U.S. Attorney for Ohio, Steve Dettlebach, to the post of ATF Director. His prospects are far from assured. Republicans fiercely opposed Biden’s initial nominee, gun-control activist and former ATF agent David Chipman, who eventually withdrew. ATF has lacked a permanent Director since 2015.

3/7/22  A proposed Federal rule that would prohibit selling parts from which untraceable “ghost guns” can be assembled is still on the drawing board. And that has gun critics hopping mad. Pointing to ATF’s recent participation in the 2022 SHOT Show, they complain that its cozy relationship with the gun industry has stalled progress in the fight against firearms violence. ATF, though, insists that sharing information about regulatory issues is an important aspect of its work. Meanwhile the agency still lacks a permanent Director, as Senate Republicans have long blocked nominees.

2/17/22  DOJ has sued Missouri to force repeal of its 2021 “Second Amendment Preservation Act,” which nullifies Federal gun laws and prohibits the state’s officers from assisting in their enforcement. Among its provisions, the Act prohibits “any registration or tracking of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition” and “Any registration or tracking of the ownership of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition,” both essential components for tracing recovered firearms to their licit and illicit source. It’s for such reasons that many Missouri police executives and officers have come out against the law (see 3/8/23 update).

1/12/22  Dominick Black, the 20-year old who bought the AR-15 rifle for his friend, Kyle Rittenhouse, because Rittenhouse was at 17 too young to purchase the gun himself, pled guilty to a non-criminal local infraction. He was originally charged with a state violation, felony delivery of a dangerous weapon to a minor, but an accommodation was reached as the judge was skeptical that the law covered rifles.

1/8/22  In a Washington Post op-ed, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill), chair of the Judiciary Committee, cites the killing of Chicago police officer Ella French with a gun bought at a store on a felon’s behalf as an example of the risks of “straw” purchase. Senator Durbin and colleagues have introduced a “bipartisan bill,” the “Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2021” that specifically makes purchasing guns for legally unqualified persons a Federal crime.

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. (See 9/25/23 update)

9/10/21  Doomed by his nominee’s past remarks about gun ownership and his close association with gun control groups, President Joe Biden reluctantly withdrew the nomination of retired ATF agent David Chipman to be the agency’s permanent director. ATF Directors are subject to Senate approval, and disputes about gun control have left the beleaguered agency without a top manager for nearly a decade. White House statement

8/25/21  On August 18, the Department of Justice filed a “statement of interest” in Cole County, Missouri Circuit Court, joining the City of St. Louis in its challenge of Missouri’s recently-enacted “Second Amendment Preservation Act” (HB85), which nullifies all Federal gun control laws and recordkeeping requirements and bars the state’s law enforcement officers from participating in their enforcement.

8/13/21  The pistol that Joseph Jimenez, 20, a schizophrenic off his meds used to murder a couple at a Corona movie theater on July 27 was described by deputies as an unserialized “ghost gun.” Jimemez was too young to purchase a handgun at retail. He had been at the movie theater with friends, but they left when his behavior made them uncomfortable. Officers recovered the gun and the male victim’s wallet at Jimenez’s home.

8/7/21  Beset by “ghost guns” — its police have recovered 255 so far this year — San Diego’s city council introduced an ordinance that prohibits possessing and transferring unserialized guns and frames. Persons who wish to assemble a gun from a kit would have to apply to the State Department of Justice to obtain a serial number. That requires passing a criminal records check. A California State law that will require sellers of gun parts kits to be licensed and conduct background checks will take effect in July 2022.

7/19/21  Florida upped the minimum age to buy long guns from eighteen to twenty-one after 19-year old Nikolas Cruz used an AR-15 rifle he bought at a local gun store to murder seventeen at a high school in 2018. That didn’t stop 18-year old Sol Pais, a Miami resident, from buying a shotgun she apparently intended to misuse in Colorado the next year. To prevent future circumventions, the FBI has agreed to explore modifying its background check system to to enforce the buyer’s home State age requirements.

7/14/21  Federal law (18 USC 922[b][1]) bars dealers from selling handguns to persons under 21. That, according to a 2-1 ruling by a Maryland Federal appeals panel, violates the 2nd. Amendment (Tanner Hirschfeld v. ATF, 7/12/21). Questioning whether younger persons are truly at special risk of misusing store-bought handguns, the Justices remarked that 18-year olds “were required at the time of the Founding to serve in the militia and furnish their own weapons.” An appeal to the full Court is expected.

7/2/21  Missouri is one of nine States that has enacted laws that “discourage or prohibit” police from cooperating in the enforcement of Federal gun laws. Its “Second Amendment Preservation Act,” which was ostensibly intended to soften the blow should new Federal gun regulations pass, declares many Federal gun laws “invalid” and prohibits police from participating in their enforcement. Accordingly, some Missouri agencies have pulled their officers from working with ATF. However, the Administration’s gun bill has stalled in the Senate. It would expand background checks to include private party and gun show sales and lengthen the waiting period from three to ten days. That seems important as a surge in gun sales has overwhelmed the FBI background check process. During Jan. - Sept. 2020, it couldn’t complete 3.4 percent (316,000) within three days, so guns were delivered without them.

10/16/24  According to Hamline University’s Violence Prevention Project, about 27 percent of American adults report owning a gun. Of these, about 67 percent have more than one. Sixty-four percent of guns are intended for protection; about eleven percent are for hunting. And about half of gun owners store their guns unloaded and under lock and key.

9/30/24  Rejecting defense contentions that the accused, a schizophrenic, was unable to tell right from wrong, a jury convicted Ahmad Alissa of ten counts of first-degree murder and numerous other charges for the 2021 massacre at a Boulder, CO supermarket. He was sentenced to life without parole. Prosecutors furnished evidence that Alissa made many objective decisions, from how he armed himself to how he conducted the massacre, not firing at random and chasing persons who were trying to hide. (See 3/31/23 update)

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.

4/15/23  In April 2021 Brandon Hole opened fire with an assault rifle at the Indianapolis FedEx facility where he once worked, killing eight and wounding seven. A victim’s son and two survivors just filed a lawsuit against American Tactical, the supplier of the 60-round magazine used by Hole, alleging that its marketing practices, including suggestive videos, were designed to appeal to “people with horrific intentions.”

3/31/23  A second lawsuit filed by relatives of the ten victims gunned down at a Boulder, Colo. supermarket in 2021 claims that Sturm Ruger’s “reckless” and “immoral” marketing practices, which glorified the murderous capabilities of the AR-556 pistol used by Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, are at least partly to blame for the massacre. Alissa, who legally bought the gun, allegedly suffers from schizophrenia and is yet to be scheduled for trial. (See 9/30/24 update)

3/16/23  In March 2021 Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa used an AR-556 “pistol” to murder ten at a Boulder, Colorado supermarket. One of his victims was Suzanne Fountain. Her son has now filed suit against Ruger for promoting the weapon, essentially an AR-15 rifle refashioned to get around assault weapons restrictions, in a way that appeals to killers. After the Supreme Court refused to intervene, Remington Arms settled a similar suit filed by the families of the Sandy Hook victims for $73 million.

2/24/23  A recently published study by the Violence Policy Center finds a strong relationship between State gun ownership rates and gun death rates by homicide and suicide. However, Police Issues’ earlier assessment revealed that poverty, which the VPC did not include as a variable, was substantially more strongly related to gun deaths by homicide than either gun ownership or gun law strength.

11/26/22  Andre Bing, the Chesapeake, VA Walmart team leader who gunned down six colleagues, left a “death note” in his phone that bemoaned his childhood and complained of harassment by coworkers “with low intelligence and a lack of wisdom [who] gave me evil twisted grins, mocked me and celebrated my down fall the last day.” But he apologized. “Sorry everyone but I did not plan this I promise things just fell in place like I was led by the Satan.” Bing had legally bought his pistol earlier that day.

11/25/22  Mass shootings are becoming a near-daily occurrence. Yesterday four Philadelphia teens were shot and wounded in a drive-by as they stood by a corner store near their high school. One day earlier a Chesapeake, Virginia Walmart team leader with a reputation for picking on employees inexplicably opened fire with a pistol as night-shift stockers gathered in a break room. Andre Bing, 31, killed six and wounded an equal number before shooting himself dead. It was the State’s second mass shooting in less than two weeks. On November 13 a University of Virginia student used a handgun to kill three fellow students and wound two others at the end of a field trip.
9/3/22  A major AP study reveals that Red Flag orders requiring risky persons to surrender their guns are used sparingly. About 15,000 such orders have been issued in nineteen states and D.C. since 2020. But even in Florida, which leads the pack in their use, they are mostly issued in a select few jurisdictions where they hold political appeal. Examples abound of where they could have been used but weren’t. One is Brandon Hole, who bragged that “they don’t have a flag on me” before buying the AR-15 rifles he would use to murder his co-workers in an Indianapolis warehouse.

4/7/22  An academic study of California registered voters who lived in households occupied by two to four persons between 2004-2016 revealed that “cohabitants of handgun owners were more than twice as likely to die by homicide as neighbors living in gun-free homes.” In homes known to have guns, victims were most frequently slain by their handgun-owning “spouses and intimate partners.” Firearms ownership information was drawn from State records of gun transfers, and persons who reportedly acquired guns during the decades before the study began were excluded.

3/25/22  In violence-racked Columbus, Georgia, a 32-year-old woman went to a gun store to buy a pistol. “Youth do not respect older people. Today, the young are wicked,” said the Black single mother. A friend was recently robbed, and the hairstylist, who carries tips, wants a CCW license. That may soon be unnecessary, as a bill to allow permitless carry will likely soon head to the Governor’s desk. Meanwhile residents keep stocking up. Last year the state’s second-largest city recorded 63 murders. And as gunfights proliferate, stray bullets have killed children in cars and old men on the sidewalk.

3/24/22  During the weekend of March 19-21, 2020 there were three mass shootings (four or more shot) in the U.S., wounding eleven and killing one. In 2021 the corresponding toll was three shootings, wounding seventeen and killing two. In 2022 the tolls was ten mass shootings during those three days, wounding sixty-three and killing eleven. One of the dead and more than two-dozen of the wounded were at a small-town Arkansas car show. Observers warn that violence usually worsens during the Summer.

3/22/22  Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed House Bill 1296, making his state the twenty-fourth to allow persons over 18 years of age who are neither felons nor dangerously mentally ill to carry handguns, concealed or not, without a permit. As in other States where permit-less concealed carry has been approved, Indiana’s police superintendent and its police chiefs association objected.

3/21/22  An exchange of gunfire between two thus-far unidentified persons at a car show in a small Arkansas town killed one bystander and left twenty-seven others wounded. Organized by the Hood-Nic Foundation, the yearly event includes stage performances and acts as a fund-raiser for local students. It’s held in Dumas, population about 5,600, with 27% living in poverty. Arkansas, which earns an “F” from Giffords, allows unlimited gun carry and had America’s ninth-highest gun death rate in 2019.

Effective in June, adult residents of Ohio will be allowed to pack concealed handguns, no training or permit required. A similar measure was just signed into law in Alabama. It will take effect in January. Both laws were opposed by gun-control and law enforcement groups. Police particularly objected to the Ohio measure, which states that armed persons need not “promptly inform” officers that they’re packing. In all, twenty-three States have passed laws allowing concealed carry without a permit.

11/10/21  In 2015 Massachusetts stiffened its gun sales laws, imposing background checks for gun sales at gun shows and private transactions and strengthening its gun licensing procedures. But a recent academic study found that these changes had no discernible impact on violent crime.

8/31/21  Except for convicted felons, as of Sept. 1, 2021, everyone in Texas, age 21 or over, will be allowed to carry a handgun openly or concealed, without a permit. State law previously allowed gun carry, but a permit was required. Texas law library summary

8/3/21  In response to a 2019 mass shooting that killed five persons and wounded six, including five police officers (see 2/16/19 update in “No One Wants”) Illinois enacted a law that directs State police to confiscate firearms from persons whose State firearms ID cards have been revoked, say, due to a felony conviction, but may still have guns. Background checks for private party gun sales will also be required beginning in 2024.

7/27/21  In Wasco, a town near Bakersfield, Calif., a 41-year old man armed with an AK-47 style rifle and a handgun opened fire inside his home. Neighbors called deputies and said occupants had been shot. Responding officers were fired on and took cover. Two SWAT members soon approached on foot. The shooter opened fire, reportedly through the windows, fatally wounding Deputy Phillip Campas, 35 and wounding his partner. Two other deputies sustained shrapnel injuries. Deputies shot and killed the assailant as he exited the home. His 42-year old wife and their 17 and 24-year old sons were found inside, all shot dead. A restraining order prohibiting the shooter from having guns was in effect.

6/20/21  Responding to the decision by a Boulder judge to invalidate the city’s ban of assault weapons, such as the Ruger AR-556 “pistol” used by Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, a new State statute specifically authorizes cities to enact their own gun laws. So it’s expected that Boulder’s law will be reinstated. Still, Alissa bought the gun in Arvada, where, as in the rest of Colorado, such weapons remain legal.

6/16/21 (updated 6/21/21) Chicago experienced two mass shootings in a single day. In the troubled Englewood neighborhood, a pair of armed men “burst into a home” and opened fire, leaving five dead and three wounded. Hours later five were wounded, one critically, in an “attack” in the Garfield Park area. Other shootings that day left at least two dead and one wounded.

6/13/21  Around the U.S., three mass shootings in the span of a few hours left at least twenty-six wounded and two dead. It began in Savannah on Friday evening when the occupants of a passing car fired dozens of rounds at a crowd gathered outside an apartment complex, killing one and wounding six. Early the next morning, a dispute between two persons in an Austin bar district left fourteen wounded, two critically. About the same time, two gunmen opened fire on a small group gathered in a troubled Chicago neighborhood. One person died and six were wounded.

6/3/21  On May 9 a “jealous and controlling” boyfriend barged into a birthday party being held in a mobile home at a Colorado Springs mobile home park and opened fire. Teodoro Macias, 28, killed six members of an extended family, including his girlfriend. He then turned the gun on himself, inflicting a fatal wound. Macias has no known criminal record; his 9mm pistol had been locally purchased by a third party in 2014. It is said that Macias was angry at being excluded from the event.

5/31/21  Early Sunday morning, May 30, a crowd leaving a Miami-Dade County music hall after the release of a rap album was ambushed by three masked gunmen who had been waiting outside in their vehicle. Wearing “ski masks and hoodies” and wielding semi-automatic rifles and handguns, they unleashed a barrage of fire that killed two and wounded at least twenty.

5/29/21  New information reveals that San Jose mass shooter Samuel Cassidy fired thirty-nine shots during his rampage. He was armed with three 9mm. pistols and carried thirty-two high-capacity pistol magazines. “Highly disgruntled” with his job situation and facing possible discipline, he apparently targeted co-workers whom he did not like. A search of his home revealed twelve additional firearms, twenty-five thousand rounds of ammunition, gasoline cans and suspected molotov cocktails.

5/27/21  A disgruntled San Jose, Calif. railyard employee reportedly armed with “two semiautomatic pistols and 11 magazines of handgun ammunition” opened fire on his early morning work shift, killing nine co-workers. Samuel James Cassidy, 57, then committed suicide. His long-estranged wife said he had a “mercurial temper,” while a girlfriend accused him of rape and alcohol-induced “mood swings” when they exchanged restraining orders several years ago. Cassidy, who apparently set fire to his home before going to work, was described as “lonely and “strange” by a neighbor. There is no indication that Cassidy was either prohibited from having guns or was subject to any weapons prohibitions.

5/25/21  Overriding objections from some law enforcement groups, which pointed out that 2,422 Texans were denied CCW permits in 2020 because of their criminal records, Texas Governor Greg Abott said he will sign a “constitutional carry” bill on his desk that will make his State the twentieth (or by some counts, twenty-first) to let persons who are 21 or older and don’t have a disabling criminal record carry handguns openly or concealed without a permit. In 2019, after mass shootings killed 23 in in El Paso and seven in Odessa, Governor Abott recommended “voluntary” background checks for private gun sales.

5/7/21  Although the FBI and police took away his shotgun last year because of his odd behevior, Brandon Hole went on to legally purchase the two AR-15 style rifles - a Ruger AR-556 and an HM Defense HM15F - that he used in the April 15 FedEx massacre. Indianapolis’ prosecutor said he didn’t then pursue his state’s “Red Flag” law because his office did not have the time and resources to comply with the procedure’s stiff requirements. A local judge has now ordered the prosecutor to refer all such cases submitted by police. Presumably that will include the forty-five officers sent in so far this year.

5/1/21  “They were just kind of giving us a heads up, ‘This is what he’s thinking about doing.’” That’s how North Carolina Sheriff Len Hagamana characterized recent warnings about Isaac Alton Barnes, 32, a well-armed resident of Boone whom neighbors feared was getting set to explode. But nothing was done, and on April 28 he did. Barnes’ shooting rampage took the lives of his mother and stepfather and two deputies. He committed suicide.

4/24/21  Each falls just short of the four deaths that a gun massacre has come to mean. Yet the residents of Austin, Texas and Kenosha County, Wisconsin were nonetheless on edge as police searched for gunmen whose “targeted” killings  left three dead and others injured in each community. Both tragedies happened during the afternoon hours of Sunday, April 18. Kenosha’s unfolded in a bar, while the Texas murders took place in an apartment complex, supposedly as result of a domestic dispute.

9/30/24  Rejecting defense contentions that the accused, a schizophrenic, was unable to tell right from wrong, a jury convicted Ahmad Alissa of ten counts of first-degree murder and numerous other charges for the 2021 massacre at a Boulder, CO supermarket. He was sentenced to life without parole. Prosecutors furnished evidence that Alissa made many objective decisions, from how he armed himself to how he conducted the massacre, not firing at random and chasing persons who were trying to hide.

3/31/23  A second lawsuit filed by relatives of the ten victims gunned down at a Boulder, Colo. supermarket in 2021 claims that Sturm Ruger’s “reckless” and “immoral” marketing practices, which glorified the murderous capabilities of the AR-556 pistol used by Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, are at least partly to blame for the massacre. Alissa, who legally bought the gun, allegedly suffers from schizophrenia and is yet to be scheduled for trial. Update: On October 6, 2023 a judge ruled that Alissa, who has been forcibly medicated while confined in a mental hospital, was now competent to stand trial.

3/16/23  In March 2021 Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa used an AR-556 “pistol” to murder ten at a Boulder, Colorado supermarket. One of his victims was Suzanne Fountain. Her son has now filed suit against Ruger for promoting the weapon, essentially an AR-15 rifle refashioned to get around assault weapons restrictions, in a way that appeals to killers. After the Supreme Court refused to intervene, Remington Arms settled a similar suit filed by the families of the Sandy Hook victims for $73 million.

1/3/23  On March 24, 2021, two days after the Boulder supermarket massacre, Atlanta police arrested Rico Marley, 22, after he was spotted with six loaded guns, including an AR-15 style tile, in the bathroom of a Publix supermarket. But Georgia permits open carry, and Marley insisted he meant no harm. Felony charges were ultimately dismissed and he was released. But the times have changed. Two months later the homeless man was indicted for misdemeanor reckless conduct and he remains locked up without bail.

2/2/22  Boulder (CO) police arrested a California man who reportedly threatened violence against a local school. Matthew Harris, 31, was the subject of a June 2021 workplace violence restraining order issued by a Los Angeles judge after the one-time university philosophy lecturer threatened a co-worker. Harris’s behavior got him fired. He then distributed an “800-page manifesto” replete with references to “homicidal violence including at school settings.” Harris tried to buy a gun at a Boulder-area store in November but was turned away because the restraining order came up during his background check.

12/31/21  The middle-aged Denver man whose armed rampage killed five persons was reportedly acquainted with four of his victims “through business or personal relationships.” He had apparently named them and written about his intentions in self-published “novels” that he posted online.

12/29/21  An armed 47-year old Denver man who was “known to police” but not wanted burst into two tattoo shops, a home and a hotel in Denver and Lakewood, killing five persons and wounding two. One of the wounded, a police officer, shot him dead. Lyndon James McLeod, who once owned a Denver business, reportedly preselected his victims, but his actual motive has not been released. Colorado has suffered a string of mass shootings; most recently, at a Boulder-area supermarket, where ten were killed.

7/11/21  A San Diego Superior Court judge ruled that the victims of John Earnest, who stormed into a Poway synagogue in 2019 and opened fire with an AR-15 type rifle that he bought in a local gun shop, killing one and wounding three, can sue Smith & Wesson for marketing a gun that was easily modified into a state-prohibited assault weapon. Victims can also sue the seller, who didn’t confirm that Earnest, who was nineteen, had the hunting license California requires for persons under 21 to buy long guns. (See 4/29/19 and 8/4/19 updates.)

6/20/21  Responding to the decision by a Boulder judge to invalidate the city’s ban of assault weapons, such as the Ruger AR-556 “pistol” used by Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, a new State statute specifically authorizes cities to enact their own gun laws. So it’s expected that Boulder’s law will be reinstated. Still, Alissa bought the gun in Arvada, where, as in the rest of Colorado, such weapons remain legal.

5/10/20  On May 9 a “jealous and controlling” boyfriend barged into a birthday party being held in a mobile home at a Colorado Springs mobile home park and opened fire. Teodoro Macias, 28, killed six members of an extended family, including his girlfriend. He then turned the gun on himself, inflicting a fatal wound. Macias has no known criminal record; his 9mm pistol had been locally purchased by a third party in 2014. It is said that Macias was angry at being excluded from the event. This tragedy came only six weeks after Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa shot and killed ten in the Boulder supermarket.

4/9/21  President Biden announced a regulatory initiative that would expand the definition of a firearm to include kits that presently allow persons to assemble unserialized “ghost guns.” Regulations would also keep manufacturers from transforming rifles into so-called “pistols,” such as the gun recently used in the Boulder massacre, by the expedient of replacing stocks with “braces.” But other gun-control moves, such as a ban on importing assault weapons, would require legislation, and in this political environment enacting new Federal gun laws seems a reach.

7/28/21  On July 27 Robert Aaron Long pled guilty to each of the four murders he committed at Young’s Asian Massage and was sentenced to four life terms without parole. But the prosecutor for the four murders at Gold’s Spa still seeks the death penalty. At sentencing, Long said his parents kicked him out for discontinuing sex addiction treatment. Long said he had intended to get sex then commit suicide, but that he got drunk and decided to commit “vigilante justice” against commercial sex peddlers.