Ok, folks, we're going to have to agree to disagree. Some of you are for control, some against, but the sad fact is that whether we have "it" or not will not move the dial on the 10,000 homicides or 45 suicides that occur each year in the US. There are 330 million firearms in this country and they're easy to acquire legally or otherwise.
If your goal is to reduce "death" then I have some suggestions which don't include wasting time fighting about gun control, which is going nowhere. The US is not going to roll back the Second Amendment.
Things that are more likely to generate results:
Empower law enforcement and repeal bond reform (at least for violent offenders). Yes this includes getting rid of bad cops.
Spend money on mental health and suicide hotline/prevention services.
Enact legislation that empower law enforcement to search and confiscate all firearms from mental ill individuals.
Allen, Texas, Mall Shooter Had Eight Weapons, All Legally Obtained
Authorities say man who killed eight had no criminal record
By Adolfo FloresFollow
Updated May 9, 2023 7:52 pm ET
Authorities said Tuesday that the gunman they said was responsible for killing eight people at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, legally obtained the weapons he used and had neo-Nazi ideation, but said they don’t believe he targeted a specific group of people.
Hank Sibley, North Texas regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said it appeared to him that Mauricio Garcia targeted the Allen Premium Outlets as a location and not anyone specifically. Among the dead were women, men and children, some of them of Asian descent. Seven people were wounded in the shooting.
Dashcam footage circulating online appears to show the moment an alleged gunman exits his car and opens fire on a crowd of people outside a Texas mall. Image: Storyful
“He was very random, and the people he killed, it didn’t matter the age, same [with] race or sex, he just shot people, which is horrific in itself,” said Mr. Sibley at a press conference in Allen. The shooting only lasted about three minutes, he said.
Brian Harvey, police chief for the city of Allen, commended but declined to name one of his police officers who was at the mall on another call when the shooting started and fatally shot Mr. Garcia. Officials said the death and injury toll would have been much higher had it not been for the officer.
Chief Harvey also noted the actions of Christian LeCour, 23, a security guard who led a person to safety and then was fatally shot while remaining to help others, the chief said.
In addition to Mr. LeCour, seven other people were killed in Saturday’s shooting. Cindy Cho and Kyu Song Cho and one of their sons, James, 3, were among the victims. Their other son, William, who had turned 6, was the only one who survived the shooting, according to a GoFundMe created for him.
Two girls aged 8 and 11 from Sachse, Texas, Aishwarya Thatikonda, 26, of McKinney, Texas, and Elio Cumana-Rivas, 32, of Dallas, also were killed.
Ms. Thatikonda was a civil engineer with a graduate degree in construction management, who started working at Srinivas Chaluvadi’s company, Perfect General Contractors, in 2020.
Mr. Chaluvadi described Ms. Thatikonda as intelligent, hardworking and responsible. “She had a curiosity to learn,” he said. “She was always prepared to give her very best.”
They both came from Hyderabad, in India, and developed a bond over their hometown and traditions. A planned celebration of a completed project and Ms. Thatikonda’s birthday will likely become a memorial, he said.
”I don’t remember her by the way she was killed, but by who she was,” Mr. Chaluvadi said.
Mr. Garcia, 33, had no criminal history and at one point had a Texas private-security license, since expired, which allowed him to work at several companies, Mr. Sibley said. Officials said they didn’t know if Mr. Garcia ever worked at the Allen mall.
In 2008, Mr. Garcia joined the Army and was terminated before he could finish basic training.
Mr. Garcia had eight weapons with him when he arrived at the sprawling outdoor mall, Mr. Sibley said, three on his person and five in his car. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that all of the weapons were obtained legally.
Authorities believe the shooter acted alone but are still looking into whether he worked with anyone else to carry out the attack, Mr. Sibley said.
Mr. Sibley said investigators were still trying to determine what Mr. Garcia’s motive was and said it was too early to say if the attack was an act of domestic terrorism fueled by racist beliefs.
Mr. Garcia wore patches and had tattoos that indicated his neo-Nazi and white-supremacy beliefs, Mr. Sibley said, adding that investigators were trying to get into his computer and social-media accounts.
A social-media profile authorities said they are examining features photographs of the outdoor mall in Allen and contains a screenshot of Google Maps for Allen Premium Outlets, showing its busiest times on a Saturday was from 3 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday’s shooting took place at around 3:30 p.m.
The profile also had white supremacist postings and pictures of a wedding in which the groom and members of the wedding party wore Nazi uniforms.
“The big question that we’re dealing with right now is what’s his motive? Why did he do this?” Mr. Sibley said.
Write to Adolfo Flores at adolfo.flores@wsj.com
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