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The constitutional right to keep & bear arms, and mass shootings in the US

JaDed said:
This should be allowed in India as well, could end caste violence.
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Exactly it should be a human right everywhere why should one group of people have guns while others don't
 
Granted there are more civilian-owned guns in the US than anywhere else, but even then the huge amount of gun-related violence and killing there is very disproportionate.

I think it’s really telling that there are dozens of countries which have high gun ownership rates (often every second or third person on average will own a gun) and yet none of these comes close to the US in terms of murder by firearm rates. Canadians have stacks of guns, but they are very gentle people.

On the surface, not to generalise but it seems like there is a certain mentality amongst some Americans which they link to their sense of national identity.
 
James said:
Granted there are more civilian-owned guns in the US than anywhere else, but even then the huge amount of gun-related violence and killing there is very disproportionate.

I think it’s really telling that there are dozens of countries which have high gun ownership rates (often every second or third person on average will own a gun) and yet none of these comes close to the US in terms of murder by firearm rates. Canadians have stacks of guns, but they are very gentle people.

On the surface, not to generalise but it seems like there is a certain mentality amongst some Americans which they link to their sense of national identity.
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White people and their mental issues that's the sole reason tbh 😁 that's kinda like their stereotype
 
New York's attorney general has announced a lawsuit aimed at dissolving the powerful National Rifle Association over alleged financial mismanagement.

Letitia James said the NRA had diverted millions of dollars to leaders including its chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, for their personal use.

"For these years of misconduct we are seeking an order to dissolve the NRA in its entirety," she said.

The NRA described the lawsuit as a "baseless, premeditated attack".

Ms James said that the four named defendants - Mr LaPierre, Wilson Phillips, Joshua Powell and John Frazer - "instituted a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement and negligent oversight at the NRA that was illegal, oppressive and fraudulent".

The attorney general outlined a litany of charges against the defendants, but accused Mr LaPierre, long the face of the powerful gun lobby group, of being the "central figure" behind the organisation's wrongdoings.

One example of misconduct alleged in the lawsuit states that Mr LaPierre visited the Bahamas more than eight times by private plane using funds intended for the NRA, for a total cost of $500,000 (£380,225).

The corruption "is so broad", Ms James said, that total dissolution of the organisation is necessary.

Responding to questions, Ms James, a Democrat, rejected the notion that the charges against the NRA - closely tied to the Republican party - were at all influenced by her own politics.

"We followed the facts and the law," she said. "We've come to the conclusion that the NRA unfortunately was serving as a personal piggy bank to four individual defendants."

The case filed by Ms James' office alleges more than $64m (£48.7m) was lost in just three years as a result of the defendants' abuse.

Also on Thursday, the District Attorney for Washington, DC filed a separate lawsuit against the organisation "for misusing charitable funds to support wasteful spending by the NRA and its executives".

The New York lawsuit will almost certainly be contested in court by the NRA. The suit will add another strain to an already beleaguered organisation, facing congressional inquiries, investigations in multiple states and internal complaints.

What is the NRA?

Founded in 1871 as a recreational group designed to "promote and encourage rifle shooting", the National Rifle Association has grown into one of the most powerful political organisations in the US.

The NRA now lobbies heavily against all forms of gun control and argues aggressively that more guns make the country safer. It relies on, and staunchly defends, a disputed interpretation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which it argues gives US citizens the rights to bear arms.

The NRA spends about $250m per year, far more than all the country's gun control advocacy groups put together.

The organisation has boasted some high-profile members over the years, including former President George HW Bush. Mr Bush resigned from the group in 1995 after Mr La Pierre referred to federal agents in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing as "jack-booted thugs".

Current members include former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and actors Tom Selleck and Whoopi Goldberg. The organisation strongly backed Donald Trump in the 2016 election, but has faced scrutiny over its accounting practices in recent years and backlash from gun control advocates following high profile school shootings.

What's the reaction?
In a statement, NRA President Carolyn Meadows decried the lawsuit as "a transparent attempt to score political points".

"As evidenced by the lawsuit filed by the NRA today against the [New York Attorney General] we not only will not shrink from this fight - we will confront it and prevail," she said

Speaking to reporters outside the White House , President Donald Trump called the suit a "very terrible thing".

The Republican president - a vocal defender of the Second Amendment - has been allied with the NRA since he launched his campaign for president.

"I think the NRA should move to Texas and lead a very good and beautiful life," Mr Trump said on Thursday. "Texas would be a great place, or to another state of their choosing."

The move against the NRA was celebrated by several prominent Democrats.

"The NRA bought the president and promotes members of Congress that turn a blind eye to the gun violence epidemic" wrote Senator Kamala Harris on Twitter.

"It's time to end the violence and recklessness. End the NRA," wrote long-time Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53684033
 
At least four people have died among 18 people people shot in a spate of shootings during an "extremely violent night" across the US city of Cincinnati, according to local media and police.

The bloodshed in the Ohio city of about 300,000 began when three people were shot at about midnight on Saturday (05:00 GMT) in the Walnut Hills neighbourhood.

Soon after, at about 12:30am (05:30 GMT) on Sunday, police were called to the Avondale area and found 21-year-old Antonio Blair with gunshot wounds. He was taken to University Hospital and died there, police said in a statement. Three other gunshot victims were also taken to the hospital.

Officers then responded to a report about gunshots in the Over-the-Rhine neighbourhood at 2:15am (07:15 GMT) where 10 people had been shot, police said. One man, 34-year-old Robert Rogers, died at the scene and another, 30-year-old Jaquiez Grantat, died at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Local news outlets reported the shootings took place within 60 to 90 minutes of each other.

Assistant Police Chief Paul Neudigate told reporters they "seem to be separate independent incidents but horrific and tragic".

Police did not immediately provide details about the fourth fatal shooting but confirmed that it occurred on the city's West End, where television news reports indicated that one person was shot later on Sunday morning and was pronounced dead at the scene.

No suspect information was immediately available in any of the cases.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...-extremely-violent-night-200816183255311.html
 

Justice Scalia explaining Gun control and its relationship to US constitution/ history
 
Bigboii said:

Justice Scalia explaining Gun control and its relationship to US constitution/ history
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Better example of Gun control and its relationship with constitution.
 
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It’s long past time we take action to end the scourge of gun violence in America.<br><br>As president, I’ll ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, implement universal background checks, and enact other common-sense reforms to end our gun violence epidemic.</p>— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1322976702419636225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Three Dead in New Orleans gun store shooting

Three killed in New Orleans gun shop shooting

Three people have been killed and two injured in a shooting at a gun outlet in the US state of Louisiana.

The local sheriff said an "initial shooter" opened fire, striking two people, which prompted several others at the shop to fire their own weapons.

The two people and the initial gunman were killed. They have not been publicly identified.

Officials said investigations into the shooting at the Jefferson Gun Outlet, in a New Orleans suburb, were ongoing.

"It appears that several individuals ended up engaging that original suspect," Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto told reporters.

"From what I understand I have multiple shooters here at this location that were either customers, employees or individuals here at the location itself," he said.

"We're trying to put it all together, piece it together."

Tyrone Russell was at the store when the shooting happened on Saturday afternoon.

"We heard the gunshots and the screaming," he told the Associated Press news agency. "When the police came, they escorted us out. I could see glass everywhere… It was just like a really scary scene."

The two people injured in the shooting are in a stable condition in hospital, the sheriff's office said.
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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56144794.
 
Indianapolis deadly shootings 'started after stimulus cheque row'

A US man allegedly shot dead three adults and a child at a house after arguing with his girlfriend about her stimulus cheque, court records show.

The cheques are part of President Joe Biden's economic relief package to help Americans impacted by the pandemic.

Police say the four victims were found at a home in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Malik Halfacre, 25, has been charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery.

According to US media reports, Mr Halfacre's girlfriend was found wounded outside the home and directed police to the property where they found the three adults and a seven-year-old child shot dead on Saturday.

A six-month-old girl was reported missing and was later found unharmed at the home of Mr Halfacre's sister, ABC News reported, citing police.

Mr Halfacre was later arrested following an armed standoff at a house in Indianapolis. In an affidavit filed on Tuesday, he told police that he and his girlfriend "were arguing because he wanted some of her stimulus cheque".

"Mr Halfacre admitted to shooting all of the deceased individuals in the house," the affidavit quoted police as saying.

He allegedly told investigators that after "everyone was shot, he took the money", according to the affidavit.

Mr Halfacre is due to appear in court later this week.

The $1.9tn (£1.4tn) economic relief package was recently signed into law by Mr Biden in the first major legislative win of his presidency.

It includes $1,400 stimulus cheques, an extension of unemployment benefits, and a child tax credit that is expected to lift millions out of poverty.

Mr Biden said the relief package would rebuild "the backbone" of the country.
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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56424266.
 
Atlanta shooting: Biden condemns anti-Asian racism

President Joe Biden has urged Americans to speak up against hate, warning that "our silence is complicity" in the face of racist acts.

Mr Biden made the remarks in Georgia where he met Asian-American leaders in the wake of Tuesday's attack on three Atlanta-area massage parlours.

The shootings left eight dead, including six Asian women.

Though police have not called race the motive for the attack, it came amid a spike in anti-Asian violence.

Hate crimes against people of East Asian descent have risen during the Covid-19 pandemic, and racism has been an "ugly poison that has long haunted and plagued our nation," one that Americans must work to extinguish, Mr Biden said.
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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56464411.
 
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-guns/biden-looks-into-taking-action-on-3d-printer-guns-imported-firearms-idUSKBN2BI384

President Joe Biden, weighing executive orders aimed at reducing gun violence following two mass shootings, said on Friday his administration is exploring whether he has the authority to take action on firearms made using 3D printers as well as on imported guns. While Democratic-backed gun control legislation faces an uphill battle in the U.S. Congress because of Republican opposition, Biden could decide to take executive action in certain areas without the approval of lawmakers.

“We’re looking at what kind of authority I have relative to imported weapons - as well as whether or not I have the authority,” the Democratic president told reporters in Delaware.

Biden also mentioned “these new weapons that are being made by 3D equipment that aren’t registered as guns at all. There may be some latitude there as well.”

Often homemade, guns made using 3D printers have been a source of controversy. Some states have tried to limit the sales of blueprints that show users how to make them.

The president, a long-time advocate of gun control measures including increased background checks on gun buyers and banning assault-style weapons, has publicly committed to taking action following two mass shootings that killed a total of 18 people in Georgia and Colorado this month.

The White House has said it needs to review potential actions to ensure they have a solid basis in law and can survive an expected legal challenge.

“They have to go through a review process,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

Psaki said Biden would sign an executive order on guns but did not say when, adding, “We have to address this epidemic, address the threat of gun violence across many avenues. And he will. He’s committed to doing that.”

Biden on Tuesday urged the Senate to approve two bills passed by the Democratic-led House of Representatives on March 11 that would broaden background checks on gun buyers. Biden also called for a national ban on assault-style weapons. A previous ban expired in 2004.

Biden said on Thursday passing new gun control measures in Congress is “a matter of timing.”
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Everybody that shouldn't have a gun already has a gun. These measures are worthless. There are alternate unofficial ways to buy guns. Heck, you can even rent a gun for 100 bucks for a day. And this happens in every city. Drug war and gun war have already been lost.
 
rhony said:
Everybody that shouldn't have a gun already has a gun. These measures are worthless. There are alternate unofficial ways to buy guns. Heck, you can even rent a gun for 100 bucks for a day. And this happens in every city. Drug war and gun war have already been lost.
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They were lost from the beginning...
They never learn from prohabition era
 
Bigboii said:
White people and their mental issues that's the sole reason tbh &#55357;&#56833; that's kinda like their stereotype
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Looking back after growing as a person this was wrong shouldn't have said it my sincerest apologies to everyone!
 
Bigboii said:
Looking back after growing as a person this was wrong shouldn't have said it my sincerest apologies to everyone!
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I grew up in a multi-ethnic school system where we made fun of each other's backgrounds and beliefs as jokes and have been called many things by friends

Because of that I started thinking that something like this was acceptable as jokes, it wasn't coming as a racist rant just something you do have fun with friends

But as I am growing up (and out of the multi ethnic environment) I am realizing you can't do that cause it's offensive (even I knew it was offensive but I thought if we do it as jokes it's not offensive since in multi ethnic areas we do it all the time)

Just something that you have to realize after getting out of your bubble that certain things are wrong to say and maybe offensive even though for you it might be a joke [MENTION=1842]James[/MENTION]
 
Biden gun control: Another mass shooting as White House signs gun orders

US President Joe Biden has issued an order targeting homemade guns one day after a mass shooting in South Carolina left a doctor and his family dead.

"Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and it's an international embarrassment," he said on Thursday.

The president is enacting new measures through an executive order, meaning he does not need approval from Congress.

It includes efforts to set rules for certain guns, bolster background checks and support local violence prevention.

However, the president will have an uphill task. The right to bear arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the US Constitution and many people see gun control laws as infringing on their constitutional right.

This week's South Carolina shooting, that left five dead including two young children, follows two mass shootings that left 18 people dead - one in Boulder, Colorado and the other in Atlanta, Georgia.

Read more:

What did Mr Biden say?

"Everyday in this country 315 people are shot. Every day," Mr Biden said during remarks in the White House Rose Garden on Thursday, adding that 106 people are killed each day by guns.

"This is an epidemic for God's sake. And it has to stop," he continued.

He paid condolences to the family killed in South Carolina.

"As I was coming to the Oval Office I got the word that in South Carolina a physician, with his wife, two grandchildren and a person working at his house were gunned down. All five."

"So many people sitting here today know what its like when the seconds change your life forever."

Mr Biden's executive order gives the Justice Department 30 days to propose a rule that will help reduce the number of "ghost guns". These guns are self-assembled, which means they do not contain a serial number and cannot be traced.

"When they show up at crime scenes, they can't be traced," Mr Biden said, adding that background checks are not required for ghost guns.

"Anyone from a criminal to a terrorist can buy this kit and, in as little as 30 minutes, put together a weapon," he continued.

Experts say that ghost guns are increasingly being used in crimes. Over 40% of guns being seized in Los Angeles are ghost guns, according to federal firearms officials.

Mr Biden is also giving the Justice Department two months to come up with a rule on stabilising braces for pistols. Under the rule, a pistol used with a stabilising brace would be classified as a short-barrelled rifle, with much more stringent background checks required under the National Firearms Act.

The Justice Department has also been asked to draft a "red flag law" which states can then use to create their own legislation. These laws authorise the courts and law enforcement to remove guns from people thought to be a risk to the community.


Getting further gun measures through Congress would be difficult. The US Senate is currently split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice-President Harris holding the deciding vote.

However, because of Senate rules, in practice 60 votes are needed to pass legislation, so some Republican support is required. Republicans have blocked significant gun control laws in the past.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56672892
 
Phillip Adams: South Carolina shooting suspect named as former NFL player

Authorities in South Carolina have identified the man suspected of shooting and killing five people as former NFL player Phillip Adams.

Dr Robert Lesslie, 70; his wife, Barbara Lesslie, 69; grandchildren Adah Lesslie, 9; and Noah Lesslie, 5; and worker James Lewis, 38, were killed.

The family were found in their home in Rock Hill, South Carolina, 30 miles (48km) from Charlotte, North Carolina.

The attack came as President Joe Biden announced new gun control measures.

Officials said the murders were committed on Wednesday evening by Mr Adams, 32, who then killed himself after a standoff with police.
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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56684403.
 
FedEx shooting: Eight killed and many injured during incident at facility in Indianapolis

A witness who works at the FedEx facility says he saw a man with a "submachine gun" who was "firing in the open".

Eight people have been killed in a shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis.

At least four people are in hospital - one with critical gunshot injuries - while two others were treated at the scene and released following the incident late on Thursday.

Multiple others walked into hospitals in nearby areas.

The gunman also took his own life and police have said they believe there is no longer an active threat to the community.

Officers were called to reports of gunfire just after 11pm and arrived to an active shooting situation.

Investigators are working to gather information on the suspect, who has not yet been identified.

It is also unclear what the motive was behind the attack and whether the gunman worked at the facility.

Footage from the scene shows police tape in the car park outside the facility and multiple emergency service vehicles.

Family members have gathered at a local hotel to wait for word on their loved ones.

A witness, who said he works at the facility, told WISH-TV that he saw a man with a gun after hearing several gunshots.

"I saw a man with a submachine gun of some sort, an automatic rifle, and he was firing in the open," said Jeremiah Miller.

Another witness said his niece was sitting in her car when the gunfire began.

"She got shot on her left arm," said Parminder Singh. "She's fine, she's in the hospital now."

His niece had said she did not know the gunman.

Indianapolis Police officer Genae Cook said: "Today it is very heartbreaking and, you know, in the Annapolis Metro Police Department, the officers responded, they came in, they went in and they did their job."

The FedEx facility is close to Indianapolis International Airport.

A spokesperson for the delivery service said the company was aware of the incident and was "working to gather more information".

US Congressman Andre Carson, a representative for Indiana, said he was "heartbroken" following the attack and was "praying for all affected by this tragedy".

"I am communicating with local authorities to get all details of the attack and my office stands ready to help everyone affected in any way we can," he said.

https://news.sky.com/story/fedex-shooting-eight-killed-and-more-injured-in-shooting-at-facility-in-indianapolis-12276796?dcmp=snt-sf-twitter
 
We love our guns...


Pretty sad and terrible.. a whole nation be fooled into keeping the bank accounts of some people healthy!
 
Four Sikhs, including three women, were among eight people who were killed in a mass shooting at a FedEx facility in the US state of Indiana staffed by a large number of Indian-American employees, shocking the community leaders who appealed to President Joe Biden to tackle the growing hate crimes and gun violence in the country.

The gunman, identified as 19-year-old Brandon Scott Hole, a former employee. He allegedly died by suicide after the shooting on late Thursday night at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis. He was last employed by FedEx in 2020.

Hole was interviewed by FBI agents last year, after his mother called police to say that her son might commit suicide by cop", the bureau said on Friday.

This is the worst Sikh massacre in the US after the Oak Creek Gurdwara mass shooting in Wisconsin on August 5, 2012, where seven members of the community were killed.

About 90 per cent of the workers at this delivery service facility are said to be Indian-Americans, mostly from the Sikh community.

"This is very heart-breaking. The Sikh community is devastated by this tragic incident," community leader Gurinder Singh Khalsa told PTI over the phone after meeting family members of the employees of the FedEx facility.

Late Friday night, the Marion County Coroner's Office and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) released the names of the victims.

Four victims who belong to the Sikh community are: Amarjeet Johal (66), Jaswinder Kaur (64), Amarjit Skhon (48) and Jaswinder Singh (68). The first three deceased are women.

Other victims include Karli Smith, Alexander Matt, Samaria Blackwell and John White.

Another Sikh community member, Harpreet Singh Gill, 45, was hit by a bullet near the eye and is now in hospital.

The IMPD said the coroner's office will determine the causes of death after autopsies are completed.

US President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have expressed condolences over the tragic killings.

Vice President Harris and I have been briefed by our homeland security team on the mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, where a lone gunman murdered eight people and wounded several more in the dark of night, Biden said in a statement.

Biden issued a proclamation in honour of the deceased. He ordered that the national flag be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all federal buildings.

Visiting Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, at the start of his bilateral meeting with Biden at the White House expressed his condolences to the victims and his sympathies to the families.

Innocent citizens must not be exposed to any such violence. Freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are the universal values that link and are prevalent in the Indo-Pacific, he said.

Khalsa said community members are in touch with the officials.

"Post 9/11, the Sikh community has suffered a lot. It is high time that strong measures be taken to bring an end to such mass shootings. Enough is enough," he said. Indiana has about 10,000 members of the Sikh community.

Community leaders, like Khalsa, are engaged in philanthropic and charitable activities.

We have families in our country that are grieving the loss of their family members because of gun violence. There is no question that this violence must end. And we are thinking of the families that lost their loved ones, Vice President Harris told reporters.

The shooter allegedly turned his weapon on himself before law enforcement arrived at the scene. FedEx has confirmed that he was a former employee at the Indianapolis facility. No further information was released.

The Indian Embassy in the US has conveyed its heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the "shocking" mass shooting incident.

India's Consul General in Chicago, Amit Kumar, spoke to the Mayor of Indianapolis Joe Hogsett, who assured full support.

We are closely monitoring the situation and remain ready to provide all possible assistance, the Indian Embassy said in a statement on Friday night.

Khalsa said: This should be a wake-up call for the entire country, in particular, the Sikhs and Asian Americans, against whom there has been a sudden spurt in hate crimes."

Not ruling out the possibility of a hate crime, Khalsa said community leaders are meeting on Saturday to discuss the tragic incident and the way forward.

We request the president of the United States that he needs to come forward and be serious about hate crimes, especially against the Sikh community because they are very vulnerable due to their appearance and look, he said.

The president should take it seriously -- gun controls, automatic semi-automatic guns -- they are very lethal, he said.

We are deeply saddened by this latest killing in Indianapolis. It is very troubling to hear random mass shootings taking place in America almost every week. This kind of senseless killing and gun violence needs to stop, Rajwant Singh, chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, told PTI.

I am heartbroken to confirm that my naniji (maternal grandmother), Amarjeet Kaur Johal, is among those killed in the senseless shooting at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis, said Komal Chohan.

We are still working to identify others who were injured and killed on Thursday night. I have several family members who work at the particular facility and are traumatised. My nani, my family, and our families should not feel unsafe at work, at their place of worship, or anywhere, she said.

Although Sikhs began settling in Indiana more than 50 years ago, the first gurdwara was established in 1999. In the last two decades, the Sikh population around Indianapolis has experienced significant growth; today, there are 10 gurdwaras across the state and an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Sikh Americans who have made Indiana their home.

I am deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of eight FedEx employees following the tragic shooting at FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis. This FedEx facility was staffed by a large number of Asian Indian Sikh employees. I am saddened to know that at least four of those killed are members of the Indianapolis Sikh community, said Democratic leader Ajay Jain Bhutoria.

Meanwhile, the AAPI Victory Alliance has demanded an immediate investigation into whether or not these shootings were racially biased.

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com...lled-in-mass-shooting-at-fedex-facility-in-us
 
Here’s what people outside the US don’t understand.

The reason why the US Constitution has survived is not because it guarantees more rights than others. The USSR Constitution did so but look how it turned out. Rather, “ambition checks ambition”; the separation of powers have ensured that power cannot be accumulated in one branch. That’s why it has survived.

What the 2nd Amendment does to its supporters, is offer a sort of safe haven or their own “check on the balance of power”. Hence, it’s commonly referred to as “the last check on tyranny”.

That’s the argument gun-supporters represent. If you can break that, you can get reforms.
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-hear-major-case-carrying-handguns-public-2021-04-26/

The U.S. Supreme Court stepped back into the heated debate over gun rights on Monday, agreeing to hear a challenge backed by the National Rifle Association to New York state's restrictions on people carrying concealed handguns in public in a case that could further undermine firearms control efforts nationally.

The justices took up an appeal by two gun owners and the New York affiliate of the NRA, an influential gun rights group closely aligned with Republicans, of a lower court ruling throwing out their challenge to the restrictions on concealed handguns outside the home.

Lower courts rejected the argument made by the plaintiffs that the restrictions violated the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The lawsuit seeks an unfettered right to carry concealed handguns in public.

The case could lead to the most consequential ruling on the scope of the Second Amendment in more than a decade. The court's 6-3 conservative majority is seen as sympathetic to an expansive view of Second Amendment rights.

A state firearms licensing officer had granted the two gun owners "concealed carry" permits but restricted them to hunting and target practice, prompting the legal challenge.

The debate over gun control in the United States has intensified in the wake of a spate of recent mass shootings. A day after an April 15 mass shooting in Indianapolis in which a gunman killed eight employees at a FedEx facility and then himself, President Joe Biden called gun violence in the United States a "national embarrassment."

Biden, a long-time advocate of gun control, has taken some steps to tighten federal firearms regulations. But major policy changes would require congressional passage, and Senate Republicans stand in the way of Democratic-backed gun control measures already passed in the House of Representatives. read more

The case taken by the justices centers on New York's law on carrying concealed handguns, which requires a showing of "proper cause." Under the law, residents may obtain licenses that are restricted to hunting and target practice, or if they hold certain jobs, such as a bank messenger or correctional officer.

But to carry a concealed handgun without restriction, applicants must convince a firearms licensing officer that they have an actual - rather than a speculative - need for self-defense.

The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, along with two of its members from the upstate capital region, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, sued in federal court. Both men said they "do not face any special or unique danger" to their lives but want carry a handgun for self-defense.

"We're confident that the court will tell New York and the other states that our Second Amendment right to defend ourselves is fundamental, and doesn't vanish when we leave our homes," said Jason Ouimet, executive director of NRA's Institute for Legislative Action.

Gun control advocates said that the stakes are especially high given that gun violence has risen during the coronavirus pandemic. A ruling weakening gun control "could make it even harder for cities and states to grapple with this public health crisis," said Eric Tirschwell, managing director of the Everytown Law legal activist group.

The Supreme Court in a landmark 2008 ruling recognized for the first time an individual's right to keep guns at home for self-defense, and in 2010 applied that right to the states. The plaintiffs in the New York case asked for that right to be extended beyond the home.

A ruling invalidating New York's law could imperil similar laws on the books in other states setting various criteria for a concealed-carry license. Seven other states and the District of Columbia impose restrictions that give authorities more discretion to deny concealed firearm permits.

Gun control advocates are concerned that the conservative justices could create a standard for gun control that could imperil measures that states already have implemented such as expanded criminal background checks for gun buyers and "red flag" laws targeting the firearms of people deemed dangerous by the courts.
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https://www.reuters.com/world/us/are-us-supreme-court-conservatives-aiming-expand-gun-rights-2021-04-27/

The United States, a nation with high levels of gun violence, could witness an increase in firearms carried in public if the Supreme Court rules as expected in a major new case that could recognize wider gun rights under the U.S. Constitution.

The court, with a 6-3 conservative majority believed to hold a broad view of the right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Constitution's Second Amendment, on Monday agreed to hear a case that could lead to the most impactful gun rights ruling in more than a decade. It took up the case in the aftermath of a spree of mass shootings and vows by Democratic President Joe Biden to pursue new gun control measures.

The National Rifle Association-backed lawsuit challenges New York state's restrictions on people carrying concealed handguns in public. Lower courts rejected arguments by two gun owners and the NRA's New York affiliate that the restrictions violate the Second Amendment. The justices are due to hear the case in their term that begins in October.

"If the court rules as expected, that New York state law infringes the right to carry a gun in public, we're likely to see a vast increase in the number of guns carried on the streets of America's major cities," said University of California, Los Angeles law professor Adam Winkler.

The court issued major Second Amendment rulings in 2008 and 2010 that established an individual's right to keep a gun at home for self-defense in cases involving gun control laws in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

"Those cases were dealing with the only two city-wide handgun bans in country, so if you take that off the books it doesn't really change the state of play for most people," said Joseph Blocher of Duke University School of Law's Center for Firearms Law. "The kind of law being challenged here affects tens of millions more people."

To carry a concealed handgun without restrictions under New York's law, applicants must convince a firearms licensing officer that they have an actual - rather than speculative - need for self-defense.

Striking down New York's restrictions would endanger similar laws in seven other states including California, the most populous one. But the Supreme Court potentially could go further by fashioning a test for lower courts to assess the legality of gun control measures such as whether any analogous regulation existed during the country's early history.

Gun control advocates have said this could endanger measures that states already have implemented and many lower courts have upheld including expanded criminal background checks for gun buyers and "red flag" laws targeting the firearms of people deemed dangerous by the courts.

Blocher said it is unlikely that most present-day gun laws would be struck down even under such a test because "the tradition of gun regulation in the United States is rich."

Gun control advocates and their Democratic allies have argued that comprehensive gun control measures are needed to combat firearms violence. NRA leader Wayne LaPierre famously said in 2012: "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

Gun rights advocates and their Republican allies in the past decade have wanted the Supreme Court to further expand gun rights. With the court moving rightward with the addition of three conservative justices - Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett - appointed by Republican former President Donald Trump, they hope now is the time.

Barrett last year replaced the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who dissented in the 2008 and 2010 gun rulings. Chief Justice John Roberts often takes a cautious approach in major cases but with six conservatives on the court now, the conservative bloc could prevail even without him.

In her previous role as a judge on a Chicago-based federal appeals court, Barrett wrote a 2019 dissenting opinion that could preview how she would approach the New York case.

Barrett analyzed early U.S. history on gun laws, concluding that a measure that bars people convicted of felonies from owning firearms could be unconstitutional when applied to people who show no sign of being a danger to society.

“History is consistent with common sense: it demonstrates that legislatures have the power to prohibit dangerous people from possessing guns,” Barrett wrote. “But that power extends only to people who are dangerous.”
Click to expand...
 
A girl reported to be 11 or 12 years old shot and wounded two other students and a member of staff at a school in the US state of Idaho, police said.

The unnamed pupil, who is in the sixth grade, brought a gun to Rigby Middle School in the city of the same name and opened fire.

The three victims are expected to survive, officials said.

A female teacher managed to disarm the girl and detained her until police took her into custody, authorities said.

A motive is yet to be established.

The girl "retrieved a handgun from her backpack, fired multiple rounds inside of the school and out," said Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson, adding that the girl was from the nearby city of Idaho Falls.

The incident is being investigated by the FBI and local law enforcement.

"Me and my classmate were just in class with our teacher - we were doing work - and then all of a sudden, there was a loud noise and then there were two more loud noises. Then there was screaming," 12-year-old Yandel Rodriguez told the Associated Press.

"Our teacher went to check it out, and he found blood."

President Joe Biden has announced his first steps since taking office to tighten gun controls following a series of mass shootings.

It includes efforts to set rules for certain guns, bolster background checks and support local violence prevention.

BBC
 
Bay Area, California: Multiple people were killed in a shooting Wednesday at a rail yard in California's Bay Area, police said, the latest instance of deadly gun violence in the United States.

"I can't confirm the exact number of injuries and fatalities. But I will tell you that there are multiple injuries and multiple fatalities in this case," Russell Davis, a Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputy, told journalists, adding that the shooter was dead.

Police rushed to the light rail public transportation facility in San Jose -- a Silicon Valley tech hub of almost a million people -- after receiving reports of an "active shooter," the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said in a tweet.

It was not immediately clear if the shooter was a worker at the facility, but police said some of the victims were employees at the site.

The United States has a long and painful history of deadly gun violence, in the form of a steady daily toll of shootings as well as high-profile mass killings that have targeted schools, work places and shopping centers.

https://www.timesnownews.com/intern...alifornia-shooting-suspect-dead-police/762295
 
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/03/politics/pentagon-shooting-lockdown/index.html

A police officer was shot in an incident that took place outside the Pentagon building on Tuesday, two law enforcement sources told CNN. The condition of the officer has not yet been released.

The "shooting event" occurred on the bus platform on the Pentagon complex and prompted a lockdown of the building with no personnel allowed outside, according to a message that was sent to the Pentagon workforce by the Pentagon Force Protection Agency.

The lockdown has since been lifted, the agency announced later Tuesday, tweeting: "The Pentagon has lifted the lock down and has reopened. Corridor 2 and the Metro entrance remains closed. Corridor 3 is open for pedestrian traffic."

The event occurred outside the building on the Metro Bus platform, which is a major entrance to the Pentagon used by thousands of personnel every day entering and leaving the building. The bus platform is used by multiple bus lines in the area.

Pentagon Force Protection Agency spokesman Chris Layman would not comment on if there was a shooter involved or if people had been injured but Arlington Fire and EMS tweeted that they "did encounter multiple patients," while responding to an "active violence incident" in the area of the Pentagon Metro. The status of the patients was not immediately provided.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, were attending a scheduled President's Daily Brief and intelligence update meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House when the incident at the Pentagon occurred, according to a defense official.

The area where the incident took place is "still very much an active scene" for investigators, the official said. Pentagon officials "will cooperate fully with local and federal authorities" the official added. Austin is staying away for now "out of respect" for the investigators needing to work.

The reported shooting at a Pentagon bus stop has halted mass transit to the massive complex. Metro trains and buses are now bypassing the area, according to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. "We will continue to do so until we are advised it is safe," WMATA spokesperson Sherri Ly told CNN.

The Pentagon is serviced by dozens of bus routes and Metro's blue and yellow rail lines. The station is the D.C. Metro system's eighth busiest station in this year with more than 2,400 passenger boarding each day, down from an average of 15,000 per day pre-pandemic. As of July 31, 185 police officers had been shot so far in 2021, 35 of whom were killed by gunfire, according to the The National Fraternal Order of Police.
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Michigan school shooting: Student kills three and wounds eight

Three students have been killed and eight others injured, including a teacher, in a high school shooting in the US state of Michigan.

The dead include a 16-year-old boy, a 14-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl, officials say.

Police say the 15-year-old suspect fired 15 to 20 shots with a semi-automatic handgun and acted alone.

The assailant's motives for the attack in the town of Oxford, about 40 miles (65km) from Detroit, remain unclear.

Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe told reporters at a news conference outside the Oxford High School on Tuesday that calls to emergency services began at 12:51 local time (17:51GMT).

Within minutes, officials had received 100 calls to 911, he said.

Officials say the suspect, a second-year male student, surrendered five minutes after police were called.

A police officer stationed at the school helped detain the suspect, he said. No shots were fired during the arrest, and the teenager was not injured.

"He gave up without any problems," said Mr McCabe, who later added that the suspect had been in class before the shooting began.

The school was evacuated, and officials conducted three separate sweeps of the campus to ensure that there were no additional victims.

Two of the injured were undergoing surgery, while the other six were in a stable condition with gunshot wounds.

In the news conference, officials said the suspect had so far refused to speak and was "not co-operating".

Mr McCabe said that the suspect had been told by his parents not to talk to police and that a search was being conducted of the pupil's home.

He added that the suspect was not wearing body armour during the shooting, and that officials know how the gun was brought into the school, but are not yet able to reveal that detail.

"Of course I'm shocked. I'm devastated," said Oxford Superintendent of Schools Tim Throne. All schools will be closed for the rest of the week and crisis support is being offered to students and parents.

According to the Detroit Free Press newspaper, rumours had been circulating of a possible attack, and some students had decided not to attend classes on Tuesday.

Parent Jody Job told the paper that her son had skipped school because "he felt like something was going to go down".

Robin Redding told the Associated Press that her son had also missed classes due to concerns about safety.

"He was not in school today," she said. "He just said that 'Ma I don't feel comfortable. None of the kids that we go to school with are going today.'"

President Joe Biden spoke about the shooting during a visit to Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"My heart goes out to the families enduring the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one," he said.

US shootings on school grounds have been ticking steadily upwards in recent years, according to pro-gun control group Everytown.

After a brief dip last year during coronavirus lockdowns, the number of such attacks has rebounded with 138 incidents of gunfire on school grounds so far in 2021.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59484333
 
After a brief dip last year during coronavirus lockdowns, the number of such attacks has rebounded with 138 incidents of gunfire on school grounds so far in 2021.
Click to expand...

Unbelievable.
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-arms-control-group-makes-mexico-minister-person-year-after-gun-lawsuit-2022-01-14/

Mexico's foreign minister and its government were on Friday named the 2021 arms control persons of the year by a major U.S. lobby in recognition of a lawsuit they filed against several American arms manufacturers.

The Mexican government launched its lawsuit in August, arguing arms makers including Smith & Wesson Brands Inc and Sturm Ruger & Company Inc knew their practices had encouraged illegal arms trafficking into Mexico, helping to cause thousands of gangland deaths.

The arms industry has rejected Mexico's allegations, and in November asked a U.S. judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

The Arms Control Association said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and the government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won from a field of eight nominees in an online poll that drew thousands of participants from dozens of countries.

"The Mexican foreign ministry's lawsuit against the U.S. firearms companies represents an important new way to hold rogue actors accountable for their role in the violence caused by small arms trafficking across international borders," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.

The various nominees for the annual contest were put forward by the Arms Control Association.

Ebrard celebrated the award on Twitter, and paid tribute to the work of his ministry's legal team.

The gun manufacturers have argued that through its $10 billion lawsuit Mexico is seeking to punish them for sales of firearms that are both lawful and constitutionally protected.
Click to expand...
 
_124910258_worst_mass_shootings_ulvalde_2x640-nc.png
 
As the sun went down in this small Texan town, the community came together.

In their hundreds, they gathered at the showground on the edge of Uvalde.

A place where families would normally come together for the rodeo was now hosting unimaginable grief.

So often towns like this are said to be tight-knit, but you can feel it here. So many know someone now in so much pain.

As a violinist played Amazing Grace, this was a moment for prayer; to reflect on such horror, but never to comprehend it.

Beyond the hugs though, how can anyone explain to dads like Steven Garcia why his daughter Ellie is gone?

We watched as he walked into the auditorium. One after another, his friends embraced him.

Ellie was in fourth grade. A nine-year-old with her life ahead. The second eldest of five girls. A cheerleader and promising basketball player. Her teachers had inspired her to become one too. They died with her in the classroom.

And yet even here, even after something like this, the political divide over guns is so stark.

Among the mourners, Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, and his ally in the senate, Ted Cruz; Republican politicians who block all Democratic Party attempts to change gun laws.

The pair are not unwelcome, so deep is the second amendment ideology here.

"There are 19 sets of parents who are never going to get to kiss their child tonight…" Senator Cruz told me.

I asked if this was the moment to reform gun laws.

Senator Ted Cruz
Image:
Senator Ted Cruz gives an interview to Sky's Mark Stone
"You know, it's easy to go to politics," he said.

"The proposals from Democrats and the media? Inevitably, when some violent psychopath murders people… if you want to stop violent crime, the proposals the Democrats have? None of them would have stopped this," he claimed.

But why, I asked him, does this only happen in America? Between 2009 and 2018 there were 288 school shootings in the US, the next highest number was in Mexico where there were eight.

"Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?" I asked.

"You know, I'm sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful. You've got your political agenda. God love you…" he replied.

"Senator, I just want to understand why you do not think that guns are the problem. It's just an American problem," I said.

He turned to walk off.

"You can't answer that, can you?" I said.

He turned: "Why is it that people come from all over the world to America? Because it's the freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth. Stop being a propagandist."

If that wasn't blunt enough, the governor's earlier news conference was as clear an example as any of this gulf in American society.

Governor Abbott didn't mention gun laws. He blamed the massacre only on the mental health of a crazed individual.

And as he spoke, he was heckled by Beto O'Rourke, his democratic rival. It was a moment of twisted clarity - where there is no common ground, no compromise.

And so the people of Uvalde left the vigil in their town that will now always be remembered for one thing, until the next one.

SKY
 
MenInG said:
As the sun went down in this small Texan town, the community came together.

In their hundreds, they gathered at the showground on the edge of Uvalde.

A place where families would normally come together for the rodeo was now hosting unimaginable grief.

So often towns like this are said to be tight-knit, but you can feel it here. So many know someone now in so much pain.

As a violinist played Amazing Grace, this was a moment for prayer; to reflect on such horror, but never to comprehend it.

Beyond the hugs though, how can anyone explain to dads like Steven Garcia why his daughter Ellie is gone?

We watched as he walked into the auditorium. One after another, his friends embraced him.

Ellie was in fourth grade. A nine-year-old with her life ahead. The second eldest of five girls. A cheerleader and promising basketball player. Her teachers had inspired her to become one too. They died with her in the classroom.

And yet even here, even after something like this, the political divide over guns is so stark.

Among the mourners, Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, and his ally in the senate, Ted Cruz; Republican politicians who block all Democratic Party attempts to change gun laws.

The pair are not unwelcome, so deep is the second amendment ideology here.

"There are 19 sets of parents who are never going to get to kiss their child tonight…" Senator Cruz told me.

I asked if this was the moment to reform gun laws.

Senator Ted Cruz
Image:
Senator Ted Cruz gives an interview to Sky's Mark Stone
"You know, it's easy to go to politics," he said.

"The proposals from Democrats and the media? Inevitably, when some violent psychopath murders people… if you want to stop violent crime, the proposals the Democrats have? None of them would have stopped this," he claimed.

But why, I asked him, does this only happen in America? Between 2009 and 2018 there were 288 school shootings in the US, the next highest number was in Mexico where there were eight.

"Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?" I asked.

"You know, I'm sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful. You've got your political agenda. God love you…" he replied.

"Senator, I just want to understand why you do not think that guns are the problem. It's just an American problem," I said.

He turned to walk off.

"You can't answer that, can you?" I said.

He turned: "Why is it that people come from all over the world to America? Because it's the freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth. Stop being a propagandist."

If that wasn't blunt enough, the governor's earlier news conference was as clear an example as any of this gulf in American society.

Governor Abbott didn't mention gun laws. He blamed the massacre only on the mental health of a crazed individual.

And as he spoke, he was heckled by Beto O'Rourke, his democratic rival. It was a moment of twisted clarity - where there is no common ground, no compromise.

And so the people of Uvalde left the vigil in their town that will now always be remembered for one thing, until the next one.

SKY
Click to expand...

Is he being serious!
 
Ted cruz is the worst still remember when he was holidaying and Texas was hit by a worst storm, I would say Texans should vote blue just to give these Republicans a check on their performance and taking people for granted.
 
2 videos which show the extent of the problem

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<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/la7tff" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
Canada leading teh way in the Americas...

==

Canada is introducing a bill that would ban the sale of handguns, less than a week after 19 children and two teachers were killed in a school shooting in Texas.

"The day this legislation goes into effect it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns in Canada," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.

If passed, the "national freeze" on handgun ownership is expected to take effect in the autumn.

Canada already has much tougher gun ownership restrictions than the US, but the killings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, have sparked concerns about gun violence worldwide.

The type of gun used in the attack, the AR-15 rifle, was banned from being used or sold in Canada two years ago, along with about 1,500 other models of assault weapons.

Speaking alongside Mr Trudeau, public safety minister Marco Mendicino said a mandatory programme to buy back and compensate owners of such weapons would be launched soon.

The new legislation, Bill C-21, proposes that those involved in acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment, such as stalking, should have their firearms licences revoked.

Stricter sentences would be implemented for gun smugglers and traffickers, and law enforcement would have access to tools like wiretapping to stop gun crime.

The law will also require long-gun magazines to be permanently altered, so they can never hold more than five rounds.

Large capacity magazines will be banned from being sold or transferred.

"Other than using firearms for sport shooting and hunting, there is no reason anyone in Canada should need guns in their everyday lives," Mr Trudeau said.

One in 200,000 people are killed by firearms in Canada, compared with four in 100,000 in the US, according to a 2021
analysis by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

The number of registered handguns in Canada increased by 71% to 1.1 million between 2010 and 2020, according to Mr Trudeau's office.

Handguns were the most serious weapon present in the majority of firearm-related violent crimes between 2009 and 2020, accounting for 59% of those crimes.

SKY
 
MenInG said:
_124910258_worst_mass_shootings_ulvalde_2x640-nc.png
Click to expand...

That’s all these mass shootings in the US ever become, just another statistic. Some lip service is paid by the politicians for a few days then back to normality.

Rinse and repeat at the next mass shooting.
 
JaDed said:
Ted cruz is the worst still remember when he was holidaying and Texas was hit by a worst storm, I would say Texans should vote blue just to give these Republicans a check on their performance and taking people for granted.
Click to expand...

Ted Cruz is a poster child for the sleazebag politicians of the modern world. He switches loyalties, stances on the flip of a dime and is a man of very very low moral character and fiber. The only reason he keeps getting elected is because of the political binary situation in the US where people have to vote for one or the other. In red Texas, it will always be some zealot like Cruz who gets elected just like in a blue state, it will always be an idiot like Biden.
 
Stewie said:
Ted Cruz is a poster child for the sleazebag politicians of the modern world. He switches loyalties, stances on the flip of a dime and is a man of very very low moral character and fiber. The only reason he keeps getting elected is because of the political binary situation in the US where people have to vote for one or the other. In red Texas, it will always be some zealot like Cruz who gets elected just like in a blue state, it will always be an idiot like Biden.
Click to expand...

Hopefully TX is turning a bit purple with all the west coast transplants plus burgeoning hispanic population.
Tide may turn in the next 10 years.
 
Four people have been shot dead at a hospital campus in Oklahoma.

Tulsa Police also said there had been "multiple injuries" in the shooting at the St Francis hospital campus in Tulsa, and officers were still in the process of clearing the building.
 
Another shooting. 5 deaths.

Oklahoma gunman who killed four targeted surgeon who treated him

TULSA, Okla., June 2 (Reuters) - A gunman who fatally shot five people including himself at an Oklahoma medical building after buying an assault-style rifle the same day had gone there to kill a doctor who he blamed for back pain he felt after surgery, authorities said on Thursday.

The suspect entered a building on Tulsa's St. Francis Health System campus with a semi-automatic weapon on Wednesday and opened fire at anyone he encountered, Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said during a news briefing. Two doctors and two other people were killed.

The suspect "came in with the intent to kill Dr. (Preston) Phillips and anyone who came in his way," Franklin said. Authorities found a letter on the gunman that made it clear that the attack was targeted.

Phillips, 59, the surgeon who treated Lewis, was killed along with Dr. Stephanie Husen, a 48-year-old sports medicine specialist.

Authorities named two other fatalities: Amanda Glenn, a receptionist, and William Love, a patient. The receptionist was initially identified as Amanda Green, but police later corrected the name on the department's Facebook page.

"They stood in the way and (the suspect) gunned them down," Franklin said.

The gunman, who police said lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma, about 50 miles (80 km) from Tulsa, had been released from the hospital on May 24 after back surgery, the police chief said. Afterwards, the man called several times complaining of pain, Franklin said.

The shooting comes on the heels of two other mass killings that have stunned Americans and reopened a long-standing debate over tightening controls on firearms ownership and the role of mental health in the epidemic of gun violence plaguing the United States.

"Enough is enough. This must stop. Hospitals are pillars of our communities," Chip Kahn, chief executive of the Federation of American Hospitals, said in a statement.

The gunman purchased the rifle he brought to the hospital at a local gun shop earlier on Wednesday, authorities said. He also bought a pistol at a pawn shop three days earlier.

The suspect parked on the second floor of the garage attached to the Natalie building, a five-story medical office building with numerous offices, rooms and hallways. He entered through the second-floor entryway and worked his way into the building, Franklin said.

Police arrived at the scene three minutes after receiving a call at 4:53 p.m. CDT (2053 GMT) of a shooting at the hospital.

Officers raced into the building and followed the sound of gunfire up to the second floor, and made contact with the victims and the suspect five minutes later, the chief said.

Officers at the scene said they heard a gunshot five minutes later, which Franklin said was the gunman taking his own life.

“When we get that call, we are going to disregard any safety measures that we might have for ourselves and we are going to go in the building to deal with the threat. Our philosophy is that we will stop the threat and we will do that by any means necessary," Franklin said. "That's how we train."
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ok...-chose-site-shooting-deliberately-2022-06-02/.
 
American teenager Coco Gauff says sports stars should use their platform to drive social change and called for peace and an end to gun crime after reaching the French Open final.

The 18-year-old wrote the message on a television camera after she reached a first Grand Slam singles final.

"It felt right in the moment. Hopefully it gets into the heads of people in office to change things," said Gauff.

Last week, 19 children and two teachers were killed by a gunman in Texas.

On Thursday, a gunman killed three employees and a patient at an Oklahoma hospital.

At the end of her on-court interview following her semi-final victory, Gauff walked to the camera to leave a message, as is traditional at the tournament, and wrote 'Peace - end gun violence' on the lens.

"I really didn't know what I was going to write even [in the] moments walking to the camera. It just felt right in that moment to write that," said world number 23 Gauff.

"I woke up this morning, you know, and I saw there was another shooting, and I think it's just crazy."

Gauff says she feel comfortable speaking out for social change and named a list of athletes - LeBron James, Serena Williams, Billie Jean King, Naomi Osaka and Colin Kaepernick - as her role models for using their platforms.

"I feel like a lot of times we're put in a box that people always say, 'sports and politics should stay separate'," said Gauff.

"I say yes, but also at the same time I'm a human first before I'm a tennis player.

"Of course I'm going to care about these issues and speak out about these issues.

"If anything, sports gives you the platform to maybe make that message reach more people."

Gauff is from Florida and says she remembers having friends at the scene of a shooting at a high school campus in Parkland, where 17 people died in 2018.

"I think that this is a problem in other parts of the world, but especially in America it's a problem that's, frankly, been happening over some years but obviously now it's getting more attention," said Gauff.

"For me, it's important, just as a person in the world, regardless of being a tennis player or not.

"It was just especially important just being in Europe and being where I know people globally around the world are for sure watching."

By beating Italy's Martina Trevisan in the semi-finals on Thursday, Gauff became the youngest finalist at Roland Garros since Kim Clijsters in 2001.

She will play Poland's world number one Iga Swiatek in Saturday's final.

Swiatek, 21, is the hot favourite having won her past 34 matches and past five tournaments.

"I'm just going to play free and play my best tennis. I think in a Grand Slam final anything can happen," said Gauff.

"She's not going to give you much opportunities. Watching her play, I think she does a great job of changing direction and hitting angles off the court, and hitting winners - she's always hitting winners."

BBC
 
US President Joe Biden has called for Congress to ban assault weapons, expand background checks and bring in a number of other gun control measures.

Speaking from the White House after a number of recent mass shootings, Mr Biden asked how many more deaths would be needed to force change.

He said "too many everyday places have become killing fields", adding: "For God's sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept?"

Among the changes Mr Biden has called for are:

• Tougher background checks
• A ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazine
• Raising the minimum age to purchase guns to 21
• Repealing the liability shield that protects gun manufacturers from being sued for violence perpetrated by people carrying their weapons

'We can't fail the American people again'

And he described opposition to debating changes to gun control legislation from Senate Republicans as "unconscionable", saying: "We can't fail the American people again."

"This time we have to take the time to do something.

"I know how hard it is, but I'll never give up and if Congress fails, I believe this time a majority of the American people won't give up either.

"I believe the majority of you will act to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote."

Shortly after giving his address, a fatal shooting took place in the car park of a church in Iowa.

A man shot and killed two women outside the church, before turning the gun on himself.

In a separate incident, two people were wounded in a shooting during a funeral at a cemetery in Racine, Wisconsin.

It comes after 19 children and two teachers were shot dead at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas; 10 people were killed in a shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York; and four people were killed at a medical building in Oklahoma - all in recent days.

More than 18,000 people have died from gun violence in 2022

The US has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other wealthy nation, with more than 18,000 people dying from gun violence so far this year (including in homicide and suicide), according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The UK, Canada, and Australia all passed tough gun laws after mass shootings, but the US - despite many more deaths - has struggled to pass such legislation.


SKY
 
A Republican legislator has brandished his guns during a debate over gun control in the US House of Representatives.

Republican Representative Greg Steube, who attended the committee meeting virtually from his Florida home, said the legislation would ban various handguns.

The second-term congressman held up each of his four guns for the committee to see, describing one as "a gun I carry every single day to protect myself, my family, my wife, my home".

Texas Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee said: "I hope to God that is not loaded."

Mr Steube replied: "I'm at my house. I can do whatever I want with my guns."
 
There have been gun killings in 43 of the 50 US states in the two weeks since the Texas school shooting.

More than 650 incidents have resulted in 730 deaths since 24 May, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

Twenty-three of those who died were children, more than the total number who died in Uvalde, and 66 were teenagers.

The figures provide the deeply troubling context for politicians on Capitol Hill as they struggle for to find common ground over how, or even if, to reform America's gun laws.

Politicians will hear testimony from the parents and survivors of the school shooting in Uvalde two weeks ago.

The witnesses will include 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo who smeared her dead friend's blood on herself. She played dead to survive.

Read more: Uvalde-born actor Matthew McConaughey calls for more gun control in White House speech

The hearing by the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee is titled 'The Urgent Need to Address the Gun Violence Epidemic' and comes as Republican and Democratic politicians remain divided over the extent to which gun laws should be changed.


This chart of daily gun deaths shows that the day of Uvalde wasn't even exceptional in the US - there have only been four days since the shooting on which fewer deaths occurred from guns than on 24 May.

Most incidents involve one person dying, often after the escalation of a street fight or in domestic violence situations, or at the hands of police.

For example, on the same day as the shooting at Robb Elementary School, a 15-year-old boy was killed by a 19-year-old after a fight outside a home in Akron, Ohio.

In Mobile, Alabama, a 24-year-old man shot dead his 61-year-old father. In Jersey City, New Jersey, a 59-year-old was killed by police after pulling a gun on his partner, and in Atlanta, Georgia, a 32-year-old killed a 31-year-old over a gambling dispute.

These are a selection of 33 incidents on 24 May alone.

https://news.sky.com/story/gun-laws...e-us-since-the-texas-school-shooting-12629378
 
Uvalde attack: US House passes gun bill doomed to fail in senate

The US House of Representatives has voted through a series of measures regulating the sale of guns, but which are destined to fail in the Senate.

The new measures would bar sales of semiautomatic weapons to people under 21 and ban large-capacity magazines.

But Republican opposition in the Senate means the bill has little chance of entering law, despite a renewed focus on gun control in the wake of a series of mass shootings in the US.

Hours before the vote, survivors of the Uvalde school shooting gave emotional testimony to lawmakers which reduced some to tears.

The primary school shooting in the Texan city claimed the lives of 21 people, including 19 young children.

One 11-year-old girl told the hearing - in pre-recorded testimony - that she had smeared her classmate's blood on herself to play dead, and graphically described the moment the gunman shot her teacher in the head.

The Uvalde attack and other recent mass killings have sparked a new round of bipartisan talks on gun control in the US Senate, but Democrats need at least 10 Republicans on board to pass any new laws.

Conservatives want to protect the constitutional right to bear arms and object to limiting sales of the assault-style rifles used in the Uvalde shooting.

And while a group of Republican and Democratic senators are trying to find common ground, correspondents say that whatever they come up with is very unlikely to involve any sweeping reforms.

In the House of Representatives, Wednesday's wide-ranging package of legislation, called the "Protecting Our Kids Act" by lawmakers, passed by 223-204 votes with just five Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the bill.

In addition to tighter controls around the sale of guns, it would also introduce a scheme allowing local government to compensate individuals who surrender high capacity magazine and strengthen existing regulations on bump stocks and untraceable ghost guns.

However the measures cannot pass into law without approval in the Senate.

"America has lost more children from gun violence than any other cause. Does that embarrass you?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during a debate on the bill. "To think that in our country, more children have died from gun violence than any other cause? These stories are tragically all too common in America today."

But House Republicans claimed the bill was an attack on citizens' constitutional rights to own a firearm.

"The speaker started by saying this bill is about protecting our kids," Ohio Republican Jim Jordan said. "But this bill doesn't do it. What this bill does is take away second amendment rights, God-given rights, protected by our Constitution from law-abiding American citizens."

Bipartisan negotiations are ongoing in the Senate on more moderate measures that could gain the support of enough Republicans to pass the 60-vote threshold required in the chamber.

But one senior Republican, Texas Senator John Cornyn, warned on Wednesday that there are "sticking points everywhere".

Only a handful of the 50 Republican senators appear open to new gun legislation, with Democrats seeking narrower measures as a compromise. Senators are expected to reach a final agreement by the end of the week.

Proposals with the greatest public support include a "red flag" law that would prevent individuals with mental illness or a criminal history from purchasing firearms, and expanded background checks on gun purchasers that would include private gun sales.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61742732
 
The House of Representatives passed a sweeping gun package in a 223-to-204 vote on Wednesday in response to mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, which killed more than 30 people overall. The gun legislation package is made up of several proposals including the restriction of sales of large-capacity ammunition magazines and raising the minimum age for the purchase of certain firearms. Despite the measure being passed, it’s expected to meet Republican opposition in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to “break through a filibuster and move forward,” according to The New York Times
 
A gunman has opened fire in a manufacturing plant in the US state of Maryland, killing three people, police say.

Officers were called to the unit in the town of Smithsburg around 2.30pm (7.30pm GMT) on Thursday.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office said three people have been killed and one critically injured. An officer who tried to chase down the gunman had also been shot in the shoulder.

Sgt Carly Hose said the suspect had fled the scene by the time officers arrived but was tracked down in a vehicle about five miles away from the plant.

It was there, an "exchange of gunfire took place" that led to the Maryland State Police trooper getting hurt.

The suspect was shot, injured and taken to hospital following the "confrontation".

Smithsburg, a community of nearly 3,000 people, is about 75 miles northwest of Baltimore, not far from the Maryland border with Pennsylvania.

The shooting comes less than two weeks after 21 people were killed when high school dropout Salvador Ramos opened fire at an elementary school in the small community of Uvalde, Texas.

SKY
 
Thousands of people have rallied in Washington DC and across the US to demand politicians tighten gun controls.

It comes after 19 children and two teachers were killed last month at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, but there have been many other examples of mass shootings.

In Washington DC, Martin Luther King Jr's granddaughter Yolanda King said the country had reached a turning point and laws needed to change.

"This time is different because this isn't about politics," she said. "It's about morality. Not right and left, but right and wrong, and that doesn't just mean thoughts and prayers. That means courage and action."

Despite rain in the nation's capital, thousands gathered at the National Mall holding up placards, including one that said: "Children aren't replaceable, senators are. Vote".

A middle school-age girl carried a sign that read: "I want to feel safe at school".

District of Columbia mayor Muriel Bowser told the rally in her city: "Enough is enough.

"I speak as a mayor, a mom, and I speak for millions of Americans and America's mayors who are demanding that congress do its job. And its job is to protect us, to protect our children from gun violence."

The group March For Our Lives, created by survivors of the 2018 shooting that killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, organised the rallies.

The group's co-founder David Hogg said: "If our government can't do anything to stop 19 kids from being killed and slaughtered in their own school, and decapitated, it's time to change who is in government."

US President Joe Biden, who was in California when the Washington rally began, said his message to the demonstrators was "keep marching", adding that he was "mildly optimistic" about legislative negotiations to address gun violence.

The House of Representatives has passed bills to raise the age limit to buy semi-automatic weapons and establish federal "red flag" laws.

But such initiatives have traditionally stalled or been heavily watered down in the Senate.

Democratic and Republican senators had hoped to reach an agreement this week on a framework for addressing the issue and held further talks on Friday, but no deal was announced.

SKY
 
<b>US gun control: Cross-party group of senators agrees limited safety measures</b>

<i>A cross-party group of US senators say they have agreed a framework for potential legislation on gun safety.</I>

The measures would include support for tougher background checks for buyers under the age of 21 and cracking down on illegal gun purchases.

Crucially, the proposals are supported by 10 Republicans, meaning they have the numbers to be voted into law.

President Biden said the plans were "steps in the right direction" but they fall far short of what he called for.

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across the US on Saturday to call for stricter gun laws in the wake of two mass shootings.

"Today, we are announcing a common sense, bipartisan proposal to protect America's children, keep our schools safe, and reduce the threat of violence across our country," the Senate group said in a statement.

"Families are scared, and it is our duty to come together and get something done that will help restore their sense of safety and security in their communities."

The senators also called for increased investment in mental health services and school safety resources, as well as including domestic violence convictions and restraining orders in the national background check database for people buying firearms.

President Biden urged lawmakers to pass the proposals quickly, while making clear that they did not go as far as he wanted.

The president has pushed for far bigger reforms - including a ban on assault rifles, which were used in the Texas and Buffalo mass shootings - or at least an increase in the age at which they can be purchased.

"Obviously, it does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades," he said in a statement.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat who said the plans were "a good first step", said he wanted to move a bill quickly to a Senate vote once legislative details were worked out.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said the measures showed "the value of dialogue and cooperation".

He added: "I continue to hope their discussions yield a bipartisan product that makes significant headway on key issues like mental health and school safety, respects the Second Amendment, earns broad support in the Senate, and makes a difference for our country."

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said a "substantial" part of the deal had been nailed down by negotiators, allowing the drafting of legislation to get under way on Monday, Reuters news agency reported.

The news has also been welcomed by some gun control activists.

"This is a first step and it's actually a lot more than I thought it would be. This is progress even if small," tweeted David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting and co-founder of March for Our Lives, a student-led movement focused on gun violence prevention.

"Even if it stops one Parkland it's worth it."

"Our grassroots army is ready to fight like hell to make sure it becomes law. 26 years for federal action on gun safety is unacceptable," tweeted Moms Demand Action, a gun control advocacy organisation.

The US has the highest rate of firearms deaths among the world's wealthy nations, but is a country where many cherish gun rights that are protected by the Constitution's Second Amendment to "keep and bear arms".

These are the first gun safety laws to receive bipartisan support of this kind in decades, with previous attempts by Democrats for strengthened controls frustrated by Republicans.

Attempts to tighten the laws in the wake of a previous school shooting at Sandy Hook in Connecticut nearly a decade ago - in which 20 children and six adults were killed - failed to get the required votes in Congress.

The Senate, or upper chamber of Congress, is currently split - with 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans - and legislation must have 60 votes to overcome a manoeuvre known as the filibuster.

Ten of the 20 senators who proposed the new measures are Republicans, meaning the proposals have the numbers needed to overcome the filibuster.

The Democrat-controlled lower chamber, the House of Representatives, this week voted through a series of measures regulating the sale of guns.

But Republican opposition in the Senate means the bill has little chance of entering law, leaving the bipartisan deal agreed on Sunday as the only realistic hope for federal measures to address firearms violence.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61777310
 
MenInG said:
2 videos which show the extent of the problem

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<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/la7tff" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
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Bump.
 
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US gun control: Cautious welcome to bipartisan deal on new safety measures

US campaigners have welcomed a potential cross-party deal on gun safety reforms but stressed the proposals do not go far enough.

"This is progress even if small," said David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland school shooting in Florida.

Ex-lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords, injured in a 2011 shooting in Arizona, said it was an "important step forward".

The plans include tougher checks for buyers under the age of 21 and cracking down on illegal gun purchases.

They were announced by a cross-party group of US senators on Sunday. Crucially, the proposals are supported by 10 Republicans, meaning they have the numbers to be voted into law.

President Joe Biden also said the plans were "steps in the right direction" but they fell far short of what he and many Democrats have been calling for.

Recent attempts to tighten gun laws in the US - which has the highest rate of firearms deaths among the world's wealthy nations - have failed to get the required support in Congress.

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied across the US on Saturday to call for stricter gun laws in the wake of two mass shootings.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61779374
 
The US Senate has voted to take first steps towards new gun legislation.

Lawmakers voted to speed passage of a bipartisan package of measures to toughen federal gun laws.

They agreed to a procedural measure that will allow the chamber to consider and vote on a bill this week. If that is passed, it will be the country's first major gun legislation in decades.

The framework for a firearms safety bill is a response to last month's mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York.

The legislation includes provisions that would help states keep guns out of the hands of those deemed to be a danger to themselves or others and close the so-called "boyfriend loophole" by blocking gun sales to those convicted of abusing unmarried partners.

However, the bill stops short of raising the age limit from 18 to 21 on purchases of automatic assault weapons.

The gunmen in both Texas and New York were 18-year-olds who used assault rifles they bought themselves.

SKY
 
The US Senate has passed a rare bipartisan package of gun safety legislation, sending it to the House of Representatives for further approval.

The bill, seen as the first significant gun control legislation to pass in three decades, was passed by 65 votes to 33.

Fifteen Republican senators joined all 50 Democrats in voting for the bill.

The measures include tougher background checks for younger would-be gun owners, measures to keep guns away from more domestic violence offenders, and red flag laws that will make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people judged to be dangerous.

The $13bn package will also fund programmes about school safety, mental health, and violence prevention.

But compromise could not be reached on broader measures, such as banning assault-style rifles or high-capacity magazines, and so these have been left out of the legislation.

It comes after a number of recent mass shootings, including one at a school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed; and one at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, which left 10 people dead.

They were among more than 20,800 people who have been killed in gun violence in the US this year, including through homicide and suicide, according to non-profit research group Gun Violence Archive.

Before the vote, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: "This is not a cure-all for the ways gun violence affects our nation, but it is a long overdue step in the right direction".

The bill is expected to pass in the Democrat-controlled House, before it is signed into law by US President Joe Biden.

Mr Biden said on Thursday night: "Tonight, after 28 years of inaction, bipartisan members of Congress came together to heed the call of families across the country and passed legislation to address the scourge of gun violence in our communities.

"Families in Uvalde and Buffalo - and too many tragic shootings before - have demanded action.

"And tonight, we acted.

"This bipartisan legislation will help protect Americans. Kids in schools and communities will be safer because of it.

"The House of Representatives should promptly vote on this bipartisan bill and send it to my desk."

Also on Thursday, the US Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a constitutional right to carry handguns in public for self defence, highlighting the deep divide over the issue.

The court's conservative majority struck down New York state's limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home, ruling that it violated a person's right to "keep and bear arms", under the US Constitution's Second Amendment.

https://news.sky.com/story/us-senate-passes-rare-bipartisan-gun-control-legislation-12639467
 
They strike down Roe vs Wade allegedly to protect innocents, yet make it easy for nutcases to shoot up schools.
 
2nd amendment strikes again.

Police say restaurant workers shot in argument over mayo

A man who complained there was too much mayonnaise on his sandwich opened fire at an Atlanta sandwich shop, killing one employee and injuring another, police said.

The shooting happened around 6:30 p.m. Sunday at a Subway restaurant attached to a gas station in downtown Atlanta. Police said the man argued with the two female workers and then opened fire, news outlets reported.

As of early Monday morning, Atlanta Police didn't release information about an arrest or details about a suspect.

“What you're seeing behind me is the result of a tragedy, a senseless tragedy that we've seen numerous times throughout the year where an argument leads to gunfire and now we have someone dead,” interim police Chief Darin Schierbaum told WSB-TV.

Police did not immediately release the names of the two women, and the condition of the injured woman wasn't immediately available.

“It just breaks my heart to know that someone has the audacity to point a weapon and shoot someone for as little as too much mayonnaise on a sandwich,” restaurant co-owner Willie Glenn.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.cp24.com/news/police-say-restaurant-workers-shot-in-argument-over-mayo-1.5964447.
 
USA and arms....

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Three people have been killed and two injured in a shooting at a mall food court in Indiana after a man with a rifle opened fire.

The man entered Greenwood Park Mall and began firing, fatally injuring three people before eventually being killed himself by a 22-year-old armed bystander, police say.

One of the wounded was a 12-year-old girl who sustained a minor injury, the Indianapolis Star has reported.

Indiana has some of the more relaxed gun laws among US states, and just this month scrapped the need for those wanting to carry a handgun to need a permit - even if it is concealed.

This latest shooting means another community will be rocked by tragedy, following similar attacks at a school in Uvalde, Texas and at an Independence Day parade in Chicago.

"We are sickened by yet another type of incident like this in our country," Indianapolis Assistant Chief of Police Chris Bailey said.

Meanwhile, Greenwood Police Department Chief Jim Ison said: "The real hero of the day is the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in that food court and was able to stop the shooter almost as soon as he began."

SKY
 
Iowa shooting: Child and parents shot dead while camping

A six-year-old girl and her parents have been shot dead while camping in the US state of Iowa, police have said.

The bodies of Sarah and Tyler Schmidt, both 42, and their daughter Lula were found in their tent in the Maquoketa Caves State Park.

The couple's nine-year-old son survived the attack, a neighbour said.

Police believe the suspected shooter, a 23-year-old man, then turned the gun on himself. His body was also found in the park.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing, and the Maquoketa Caves State Park is an active crime scene, a statement from Mitch Mortvedt, Assistant Director of the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, said.

Mr Mortvedt told local newspaper, The Des Moines Register, that there had been no reports of an earlier altercation between the suspect and victims.

The suspected shooter has been named as Anthony Orlando Sherwin, who was also staying at the campsite.

The victims' bodies were found on Friday morning, and emergency services were called at 06:23 local time (12:23 BST).

The park was evacuated, and Sherwin, known to be armed, was found to be missing. Following an air search, his body was found in the park, some way from the campsite.

The Schmidts were from Cedar Falls, also in Iowa, which has been rocked by the news.

Cedar Falls mayor Rob Green wrote in a Facebook post that just this week he had been working with Sarah Schmidt, who worked at the local library, on a project.

"Like many of you just hearing the news, I'm devastated," he said.

"I knew Sarah well, and she and her family were regular walkers here in the Sartori Park neighbourhood."

Mr Green's post received many comments expressing shock and grief, as well as sympathy for the surviving child.

A GoFundMe page set up to help the nine-year-old had raised almost $150,000 (£125,000) by Sunday evening.

The page organiser said she was Ms Schmidt's cousin, and that the boy was "surrounded by family and friends who are supporting him as best we can".

Local officials said autopsies would be carried out on all four of the bodies over the weekend.

The park is expected to be closed until at least Thursday.

Kayla Lyon, Director of Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said the "long-standing tradition of enjoying Iowa's natural wonders" had been shaken, but would continue.

BBC
 
A jury has ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $4.1m (£3.3m) in damages to the parents of a six-year-old boy who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 students and six teachers killed in the attack in Connecticut, successfully sued Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems for defamation in October 2021.

The Infowars radio programme host had repeatedly claimed the deadliest school shooting in US history was a hoax and staged by gun-control activists using actors.

A jury in Texas has now ruled he is liable for damages totalling $4.1m (£3.3m).

On Thursday, Jones filed a motion for a mistrial, but the judge in Texas denied the request.

During the trial to determine the amount of damages the parents should be awarded, Jones admitted the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was "100% real".

But Mr Heslin and Ms Lewis told jurors an apology would not suffice, and called on them to make Jones pay for the years of suffering he has put them and other Sandy Hook families through.

Kyle Farrar, one of Jesse's parents' lawyers, said they were "very pleased with the verdict".

Mark Bankston, another of their team, had accused Jones in court of approaching the trial in bad faith, citing broadcasts where he said the trial was rigged against him.

He showed a video of Jones saying in his broadcast on Friday that the jury pool was full of people who "don't know what planet they're on".

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble reprimanded Jones on Tuesday for not telling the truth under oath after he falsely told the court he was bankrupt and had complied with discovery in the case.

The 12-person jury will next consider the parents' request for as much as $75m (£62m) in punitive damages from Jones for spreading falsehoods about the killing of the students and teachers from the Connecticut school in December 2012.

Punitive damages are those over and above the basic compensation amount, designed to punish the defendant.

Trial consultant Jill Huntley Taylor said it is not uncommon for a jury to award higher punitive damages than compensatory ones.

"If jurors' motivation for an award is their anger at the defendant, then they often award a bigger punitive damage
number," she said in an interview.

Lawyers for Jones have not yet commented on the outcome so far.

SKY
 
Alex Jones must pay $50m for Sandy Hook hoax claim

US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $49.3m (£41m) in damages after falsely claiming a 2012 school shooting was a hoax.

A jury in Texas ruled the radio host must pay $45.2m in punitive damages, in addition to $4.1m in compensatory damages they awarded a day earlier.

The two-week defamation trial was brought by the parents of a child killed in the attack.

Twenty children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook in Connecticut.

The lawsuit was filed by Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin, the separated parents of six-year-old Jesse Lewis, who died in the primary school shooting.

The plaintiffs - who said they had endured harassment and emotional distress because of the Infowars founder's misinformation - had sought $150m.

The compensatory damages issued on Thursday were meant to cover the actual costs to the family incurred by Jones' defamation, such as the private security they hired during the trial out of fear of an attack from a Jones supporter.

The punitive damages are meant to act as a deterrent, and to stop Jones from repeating his offence.

"We ask that you send a very, very simple message and that is: Stop Alex Jones," a lawyer for the parents said in court on Friday.

"Stop the monetisation of misinformation and lies. Please."

Earlier on Friday, an economist hired by the parents testified that Jones, his media brand Infowars and parent company Free Speech Systems are worth up to $270m.

Bernard Pettingill told the court that records indicate Jones withdrew $62m for himself from his company in 2021 as his legal troubles grew.

"That number represents, in my opinion, a value of a net worth," Mr Pettingill said. "He's got money put in a bank account somewhere."

Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy protections in the first week of the two-week trial.

The trial heard that Jones' business had earned about $800,000 in a single day selling diet supplements, gun paraphernalia and survivalist equipment.

Lawyers for the parents accused Jones of trying to hide evidence, and argued that he had committed perjury when he denied having sent any messages about the Sandy Hook attack.

Earlier this week, an attorney for the plaintiffs revealed that Jones' legal representative had accidentally sent them two years of the radio host's telephone texts.

He said that the congressional committee investigating last year's US Capitol riot had requested access to the messages as they look into Jones' alleged role.

This is the first of three trials against Jones being brought by family members of Sandy Hook victims.

He has already lost a series of defamation cases filed by parents of the victims by default after failing to produce documents and testimony.

But this was the first trial in which financial damages were agreed by a jury.

Jones appeared briefly in the court on Friday, but was not present for the final verdict.

Despite retracting his claims about Sandy Hook, Jones has continued to use his media platform to argue the case was rigged against him and claimed that members of the jury pool "don't know what planet they're on". His Infowars website depicted the judge being consumed by flames.

His behaviour triggered several rebukes from the judge, who at one point told him: "This is not your show."

After the verdict on Friday, he posted a video where he claimed his net worth to be a fraction of what was said in court, and condemned the trial as "beyond any kangaroo-rigged court ever".

Jones - a popular figure in US fringe conservative commentary - has repeatedly argued that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax orchestrated by the government to strip Americans of gun rights, and that the parents of the dead children were "crisis actors".

His lawyer had cited US constitutional free speech protections and asked for leniency in the trial, saying the jury had already sent a message to all radio hosts "that their standard of care has changed".

BBC
 
Three Dutch commandos, who were in the US for training, have been shot and wounded outside a hotel in the city of Indianapolis while off duty.

The incident occurred at around 03:30 on Saturday local time in the city's entertainment district.

Indianapolis police say officers found the three men with gunshot wounds and they were taken to nearby hospitals.

The Dutch defence ministry said one of the men was in a critical condition and that the other two were conscious.

It said all three were members of the Commando Corps, one of the special operations units in the Netherlands armed forces.

The shooting occurred during their free time in front of the hotel where they were staying, the ministry added.

Local police said they believed there had been an earlier altercation between the men and another person or group.

Speaking to FOX59, an officer with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said: "Right now the information we're willing to disclose is that it was not something that occurred inside the hotel.

"It was a previous altercation we believe at another location."

The Dutch defence ministry said the men's families had been informed and that an investigation by local police was under way.

No arrests have been made.
 
At least three people, including the suspect, have died and seven others are injured after a shooting at a high school in St Louis, Missouri.

The gunman entered Central Visual & Performing Arts High School shortly after 09:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Monday.

The doors of the school building were locked and it was not immediately clear how the suspect entered.

Witnesses say lives were saved after the gunman's weapon jammed mid-attack.

St Louis Public Schools say police "quickly stopped" the gunman.

The suspect, identified by police as a 19-year-old former student, exchanged gunfire with police and later succumbed to his injuries.


His motive for the attack at the school of about 400 students is unclear.

A teenage girl was pronounced dead inside the school, while one woman died in hospital, police told local media.

The seven injured - three girls and four boys - all had non-life-threatening injuries, according to local media.

Students were running out of the school when officers arrived and said the attacker had a "long gun", according to the city's police commissioner Michael Sack.

He said seven security workers on site had acted quickly to notify other staff and contact police.

The gunman was found to be carrying hundreds of bullets that were sorted into nearly a dozen high-capacity magazines, Mr Sack later said, adding: "This could have been much worse."

"This is a heart-breaking day for all of us," he added. FBI agents are helping the investigation.

One student told the KMOV local news station the attacker had walked up to a friend and asked her: "You ready to die?"

Raven Terry said: "We just ran real, real fast... and we were just crying, all shaken up about it."

Taniya Gholston, 16, told the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that the gunman had entered her classroom and tried to shoot her.

"I was trying to run and I couldn't run," she said. "Me and him made eye contact but I made it out because his gun got jammed."

She said she overheard the attacker saying: "I'm tired of this damn school."

Police said the gunman graduated last year from the school and had no history of criminal behaviour.

One of the victims was identified by family as health teacher Jean Kuczka.

Kuczka, 61, had taught at the school since 2008, according to an online biography, and was a grandmother of seven.

"My mom loved kids," her daughter Abigail Kuczka told the Post-Dispatch, adding that she had died protecting her students.

Those injured are said to be suffering from gunshot wounds, shrapnel injuries and cardiac arrest.

"Our children shouldn't have to experience this," St Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said at a news conference after the shooting.

"They shouldn't have to go through active shooter drills in case something happens. And unfortunately, that happened today."

Data from the Education Week outlet show there have been at least 35 school shootings, in which at least one person was killed or injured, so far this year.

Earlier on Monday, a teenager in Michigan pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including terrorism and first-degree murder, after a rampage at his high school last November.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A shooting at a Colorado nightclub has left five dead and 18 injured. <br><br>Club Q has released a statement in which they say they are "devastated" by the "hate attack" and thanked "the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman" <a href="https://t.co/PAiZ4DiULB">https://t.co/PAiZ4DiULB</a><br><br>📺 Sky 501 <a href="https://t.co/W3RuNtTNCn">pic.twitter.com/W3RuNtTNCn</a></p>— Sky News (@SkyNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1594282781718126592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
At least five people have been killed and 18 injured after a gunman opened fire inside a gay club in the US state of Colorado on Saturday night.

A suspect is in police custody and is being treated for injuries. Two "heroic" people in the club subdued the attacker, police say.

Club Q, in Colorado Springs, wrote on Facebook that it was "devastated by the senseless attack" on its community.

US President Joe Biden said Americans "cannot and must not tolerate hate".

Police asked people to be patient while they worked to identify victims and finalise the number of casualties, adding that some people had taken themselves to hospital.

Officers received an initial emergency call about an active shooter at 23:57 (06:57 GMT) on Saturday, they said.

The suspect was found inside the club. Two firearms were found at the scene, and the attacker is thought to have used a long rifle.

Police did not suggest a motive for the shooting but said the investigation would consider whether it was a hate crime, and if more than one person was involved.

A fire department spokesman said casualties had been transported to hospitals very quickly because of training for such events.

The FBI in nearby Denver said it was assisting local police with the incident.

BBC
 
MenInG said:
At least five people have been killed and 18 injured after a gunman opened fire inside a gay club in the US state of Colorado on Saturday night.

A suspect is in police custody and is being treated for injuries. Two "heroic" people in the club subdued the attacker, police say.

Club Q, in Colorado Springs, wrote on Facebook that it was "devastated by the senseless attack" on its community.

US President Joe Biden said Americans "cannot and must not tolerate hate".

Police asked people to be patient while they worked to identify victims and finalise the number of casualties, adding that some people had taken themselves to hospital.

Officers received an initial emergency call about an active shooter at 23:57 (06:57 GMT) on Saturday, they said.

The suspect was found inside the club. Two firearms were found at the scene, and the attacker is thought to have used a long rifle.

Police did not suggest a motive for the shooting but said the investigation would consider whether it was a hate crime, and if more than one person was involved.

A fire department spokesman said casualties had been transported to hospitals very quickly because of training for such events.

The FBI in nearby Denver said it was assisting local police with the incident.

BBC
Click to expand...

Shooter was 22-year old Anderson Lee Aldrich.

Young guy.
 
Last edited:
'Heroic people' stopped attack at US gay nightclub in which five died
The governor of Colorado, who is gay, commended the "brave individuals who blocked the gunman", describing the attack as "horrific, sickening and devastating".

"Heroic people" confronted a gunman who killed five people at a gay nightclub in the US and stopped him killing any more, police have said.

At least 25 others were injured at Club Q in the city of Colorado Springs.

The suspect has been named as Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, who was taken into custody and treated for injuries.

At a news conference, officers said the gunman used a "long rifle" and began shooting as soon as he entered the venue.

Adrian Vasquez, the city's police chief, said: "At least two heroic people inside the club confronted and fought with the suspect and were able to stop the suspect from continuing to kill and harm others.

"We owe them a great debt of thanks."

John Suthers, the mayor of Colorado Springs, said their actions "clearly saved lives".

At least two firearms were found at the scene and the FBI is assisting with the investigation, Mr Vasquez said.

His officers are working to identify those that died, and to establish whether anyone helped the suspect.

Jared Polis, the governor of Colorado, who is gay, commended the "brave individuals who blocked the gunman", describing the attack as "horrific, sickening and devastating".

President Biden said: "Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence."

It is the 26th American mass shooting this month, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which tallies gun related violence in the United States.

This year there have been 601 mass shootings in America, representing a steady rise, year on year. In 2014 there were fewer than 300.

This year, almost 40,000 Americans have been killed in gun-related incidents, including homicide, accidents and suicide.

A mass shooting is defined as one in which four or more people are killed or injured.

'Hate attack'

The venue called the shooting a "hate attack". It said: "Club Q is devastated by the senseless attack on our community.

"Our prayers and thoughts are with all the victims and their families and friends. We thank the quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack."

The initial phone call reporting the shooting came in at 11.57pm local time, Colorado Springs police lieutenant Pamela Castro said.

Eleven ambulances and 34 firefighters attended the scene, with the incident described as "a mass casualty event".

Lt Castro said officers were able to enter the club immediately.

The area around the nightclub, located in a shopping centre on the outskirts of Colorado Springs, was closed off.

Club Q describes itself as an "adult-oriented gay and lesbian nightclub hosting theme nights", with events including karaoke, drag shows and DJ sets.

A DJ set and dancing were listed as taking place from 9pm local time on Saturday night, after karaoke, and had been due to carry on until 2am.

In 2016, a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people before he was shot dead by police. Over 50 others were injured.

Treated as an act of terrorism, the shooter, Omar Mateen, 29, had claimed allegiance to Islamic State.

At the time it was the worst mass shooting in recent US history.

SKY
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING: Several people have died in a shooting at a Walmart store in Virginia, US police say.<br><br>Sky's <a href="https://twitter.com/marthakelner?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@marthakelner</a> has the latest - and says the shooter is also believed to have died in the incident. <a href="https://t.co/guGlDeR40W">https://t.co/guGlDeR40W</a><br><br>&#55357;&#56570; Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube <a href="https://t.co/9DWnNlcWkq">pic.twitter.com/9DWnNlcWkq</a></p>— Sky News (@SkyNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1595306397125713921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
<b>The gunman in the Walmart mass shooting in Virginia left a "death note" addressed to God on his phone, police say.</b>

Andre Bing, 31, said that his actions were not planned, but things had fallen into place like he was being led by Satan, in the rambling note that was released by the Chesapeake Police Department on Friday, NBC reports.

Bing added that he had failed to listen to the Holy Spirit.

The attack in the US store on Tuesday left six people dead and four more in hospital.

In the document, Bing also said that he had lost his dignity after his phone was hacked.

He said people unfairly compared him to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, and wrote: "I would have never killed anyone who entered my home."

Signing off, he asked for God's forgiveness for what he was about to do.

Police said in a statement that they found the note when "detectives conducted a forensic analysis of the suspect's phone which was located at the scene."

A motive for the shooting remains unclear, police said, and the force could not say when the note was written.

Walmart said in a statement: "There is nothing that can justify taking innocent lives.

"Our focus continues to be on the families who are grieving and supporting our associates through this difficult time."

Walmart said Bing had been an overnight team leader who had been with the company since 2010.

Police said the 9mm handgun used in the Tuesday night shooting was legally purchased that morning and that Bing had no previous criminal record.

Officers released a copy of the note found on his phone that appeared to redact the names of specific people he mentioned.

Bing died at the scene of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A vigil for the victims of the shooting will be held on Monday at City Park in Chesapeake.

https://news.sky.com/story/walmart-...id-he-was-compared-to-jeffrey-dahmer-12755734
 
A 10-year-old boy allegedly shot and killed his mother because she would not buy him a virtual reality headset.

The boy at first claimed the shooting was an accident, but later said he intentionally aimed at his mother.

He is said to have logged into her Amazon account and ordered a headset the morning after she died, according to his aunt and sister, who claim he has not cried or showed any remorse.

The boy has been charged as an adult with first-degree reckless homicide and is in juvenile detention.

The incident happened just before 7am on 21 November in the city of Milwaukee in Wisconsin.

State law requires children as young as 10 to be charged as adults for certain serious crimes, but lawyers can request the case is moved to a juvenile court.

One of the boy's lawyers, Angela Cunningham, said: "This is an absolute family tragedy.

"I don't think anybody would deny or disagree with that... the adult system is absolutely ill-equipped to address the needs of a 10-year-old child."

The boy is said to have told officers he got the gun from his mother's bedroom and went down to the basement where she was doing laundry, according to criminal charges seen by the Journal Sentinel, a local newspaper.

Milwaukee Police initially said that the boy was "playing" with the gun when it fired, fatally injuring his mother.

SKY
 
"Moral Obligation To Pass And Enforce Laws": Joe Biden On Gun Violence

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that America should feel collective "guilt" for its failure to tackle gun violence, as the country marks 10 years since its worst-ever school shooting, at Sandy Hook Elementary.

"We have a moral obligation to pass and enforce laws that can prevent these things from happening again," Joe Biden said in a statement.

"I am determined to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those used at Sandy Hook," he said.

The massacre in Newtown, Connecticut left 20 children and six adults dead in a five-minute shooting spree by a young man named Adam Lanza, who was armed with an AR-15 military-style assault rifle. Lanza later killed himself.

The shooting shocked America and the world, sparked heightened security measures at schools, and renewed a contentious fight for gun control laws that continues a decade later.

After 19 children and two teachers were shot dead at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May this year, Congress passed legislation expanding background checks and reinforcing measures to get firearms out of the hands of potentially dangerous people.

But a tougher law banning assault rifles expired in 2004 and Congress has repeatedly failed to renew it, even as the country endures mass shooting after mass shooting. This inertia stems largely from opposition from Republicans who cite the constitutional right to gun ownership.

NDTV
 
MenInG said:
A six-year-old boy has left a teacher with life-threatening injuries after shooting her inside a classroom, US police have said.

No students or other members of staff were injured during the incident, which has been described by officials as "an altercation" and "not an accident", at Richneck Elementary School in Virginia.

https://news.sky.com/story/boy-6-sh...tion-inside-classroom-in-virginia-us-12781491
Click to expand...

A six year old with a gun... and here I am worrying about my little one cutting with safety scissors. What's this world coming to
 
Condition of teacher shot by child improving

The condition of a Virginia teacher left seriously injured when she was shot by a six-year-old pupil has shown signs of improvement, authorities say.

Abby Zwerner suffered life-threatening injuries after she was shot with a handgun at Richneck Elementary School in the city of Newport News on Friday.

Mayor Phillip Jones told the BBC that Ms Zwerner's recovery was "trending in a positive direction".

But he added that she remained in a critical condition after the incident.

Online, social media users wished Ms Zwerner - who is believed to be in her 30s - a speedy recovery.

Her alma mater, James Madison University in Virginia, offered "prayers and best wishes for Abby's health and recovery".

It is unclear how the child - who remains in police custody - obtained the gun. Officials said that while the school - which has around 550 students - had metal detection facilities, students were checked at random and not every child was inspected.

...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64200873
 
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