Guns and “Law Abiding Citizens.”

Well it was just about a week ago that I wrote about guns, mass shootings in America and ammo-sexuals.

I posted about wo mass shootings; one killing ten in California and another eleven shot at a club in Louisiana.  Just another weekend.

On Jan. 5, eight lives were claimed in a shooting in a small town in Utah.  A few days later, five were shot in a home in North Carolina.  And just one week later, six people, including a 10-month-old baby and a 16-year-old mother, were fatally shot in California.

In the first month of 2023, there have been at least 52 mass shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass shootings in which there are four or more victims.

Last week 11 persons were wounded in a drive-by in Lakeland, Florida just one railroad stop outside of Tampa.  Then, before the first month of the year came to an end, a gunman opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle at a Target store in Nebraska on Tuesday.

The U.S. has seen more than 600 mass shootings every year since 2020, averaging almost two shootings a day. We are a country that has more guns than people in it.

Here in the Gunshine state, no one knows how many guns there are.  Florida law does not require licensing of firearm purchasers or registration of the weapons, only mandating that concealed weapons must be permitted. This means data is only kept for concealed firearms, which also means nobody really knows how many unconcealed firearms there are.

Florida is currently #2 (at 35%) in percentage of households with gun ownership though data is woefully incomplete.   Since no one knows how many guns not covered by a concealed carry permit there are, the percentage certainly much higher.

Colonel DeSantis is now supporting the “Constitutional Carry” bill which would eliminate the requirement to obtain a permit to carry a weapon into your local Walmart or car dealership.  The bill would also eliminate any requirement for training in how to use a weapon.

Great.  More about this later.

How many legally purchased guns are used in crimes?  An ATM report in 2021 says 54% of guns recovered at crime scenes were legally purchased with almost 35,000 acquired legally in Florida and recovered at crime scenes in other states.

Do those god-fearing, law-abiding citizens who walk into a gun shop and buy a weapon commit crimes ith them?  The gun lobby says “of course not.”

Ehh, well.

The suspects in the shootings atthe Uvalde, Texas, elementary school and the Buffalo, New York, supermarket were both just 18, authorities say, when they bought the weapons used in the attacks — too young to legally purchase alcohol or cigarettes, but old enough to arm themselves with assault-style weapons.

Samuel James Cassidy legally purchased the three 9 mm handguns he used to kill co-workers and then himself in May 2021 at a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority rail yard.  He also stockpiled a dozen guns and 25,000 rounds of ammunition at his home.  He would have been “red flagged” and has his guns taken away if U.S. Customs and Border Patrol had advised the D.A of a “significant encounter” with Cassidy on his return from the Philippines.  But they didn’t.  He was bat-shit crazy.

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa legally bought a Ruger AR-556 pistol, a semi-automatic weapon with a capacity of up to 30 rounds, six days before the shooting at King Soopers grocery store, killing 10 people in Boulder, Colorado. Alissa was prone to sudden rage and was convicted of misdemeanor assault and sentenced to probation for attacking a high school classmate.  The misdemeanor conviction would have prevented him from purchasing a weapon but days before a judge struck down Boulder’s restrictions on automatic weapons and local gun laws.  Ahmad bought his gun legally and was then found incompetent to stand trial.

Robert Aaron Long purchased a 9 mm handgun just hours before going on a shooting rampage at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area. He said he had a “sex addiction” and hated women.  He had spent time in a mental institution.  A lawyer for the gun shop said it complied with federal background check laws. Many addictions will prevent one from buying a weapon – but not his.  Georgia, like the majority of states, has no waiting period to obtain a gun.

Seth Aaron Ator purchased an AR-style rifle through a private sale, allowing him to evade a federal background check, and fired it indiscriminately from his car into passing vehicles and shopping plazas inMidland, Texas. He also hijacked a mail truck, killing the driver. Ator had been blocked from getting a gun in 2014 after his background check was flagged because a court determined he was mentally ill. Private sales, which account for up to 40% of all gun sales according to some estimates, are not subject to a federal background check and private sellers aren’t required to determine if a buyer is eligible to own a gun. Ator was killed by police.

Connor Betts was suspended in high school for compiling a “hit list” and a “rape list,” but authorities said nothing in his background prevented him from purchasing the AR-15-style pistol used in the killing of nine at Ned Peppers Bar in Dayton, Ohio. Ohio law requires that sealed records of any juvenile crimes be expunged either after five years or once the offender turns 23. Betts, who was 24 at the time of the shooting, bought the gun online from a Texas dealer. It was then shipped to a Dayton-area firearms dealer, in accordance with federal law. Betts was killed by police.

Former Virginia Beach city employee DeWayne Craddock legally purchased six firearms in the three years before he opened fire on a municipal building, killing 12.  An independent review of the shooting, commissioned by the City of Virginia Beach, found that Craddock displayed no warning signs or “prohibited behaviors associated with a pathway to violence,” and that he had no known history of mental health treatment. Craddock was killed by police.

Robert Gregory Bowers had a carry license and legally owned the Colt AR-15 SP1 and three Glock .357 handguns police said he used to kill 11 worshipers at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after having spent months posting rants aganst Jews on-line.

Read enough?  We are ALL “law-abiding citizens” – until we’re not.

We’re gonna do SOMETHING about guns, this time. right?

Well, Colonel DeSantis is ready relieve Floridians of the requirement to obtain a concealed carry permit for a legally purchased firearm.  No training or registration.  Just buy your gun from a dealer or at at a gun show (no background check required) and put it in your pocket.

Take it to Publix or Walmart.  Get hard.

Excellent approach after Orlando, Parkland and Lakeland.

Finally, in Texas a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the government can’t stop people who have domestic violence restraining orders against them from owning guns — the latest domino to fall after the U.S. Supreme Court’s “conservative’  morons set new standards for reviewing the nation’s gun laws.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a new ruling in a case known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. That case set new standards for interpreting the Second Amendment by saying the government had to justify gun control laws by showing they are “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

You know.  Like 18th century.  Brilliant legal scholars, my ass. My daughter would make a better Supreme Court justice than these 5 sitting clowns.

As for the ladies, now nervous about your ex being able to buy a gun, my suggestion?

Buy one yourself and learn how to use it.