15 bans to stop mass shootings it's going to take more ......11/22/2018 background checks and...
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11/22/2018 Background Checks and AR-15 Bans Won't Stop Mass Shootings | Time
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It's Going to Take More Than Background Checks and AR-15 Bans to Stop Mass Shootings
By JOHN DONOHUE November 16, 2018
IDEAS Donohue is the C. Wendell and Edith M. Carlsmith Professor of Law at StanfordUniversity.
After a shooting at a bar killed 12 people in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on Nov. 7,
the terror of mass shootings was, for some, worsened by a sense of
hopelessness. If a state with some of the nation’s strictest gun laws can’t
prevent such a tragedy, where can we feel safe? But the story is more complex.
And much can still be done.
A memorial for the victims of the Thousand Oaks shooting Apu Gomes—AFP/Getty Images
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There are two fundamental approaches to addressing mass shootings, neither
of which work perfectly, but both of which could be improved, especially if the
public better understands what to demand of its governments.
The first is prevention.
In this realm, Americans most often hear about the need for universal
background checks and red-flag laws. Although the vast majority of mass
shooters have left a record that would clearly reflect unsuitability for gun
possession, this information is often in the hands of relatives and neighbors
and even police and prosecutors who have not pursued gun-barring
convictions, but not in the relevant databases. Two steps are needed. Increased
efforts to ensure that those who act violently and abuse firearms are quickly
prosecuted and stripped of their weapons, and those with information relevant
to triggering red-flag laws should act with urgency to effectuate those
protections. Without these efforts, most mass shooters (including those from
the Thousand Oaks bar and the Pittsburgh synagogue) will just appear to be
“law-abiding citizens” free to buy and possess their guns legally — until they
kill.
Background checks also fail to address the problem of those who descend into a
potentially violent tailspin — whether from addiction, PTSD or some other life
stressor — sometime after they acquire their weapons. In the rest of the
developed world, gun owners must renew their licenses, which protects the
public from dangerous individuals by removing their weapons. Any serious
investigation into the background of the California shooter — or the
Pennsylvania shooter or the man who, in between those massacres, killed two
and injured five at a Florida yoga studio — would have uncovered, albeit not a
criminal record, but clear patterns of behavior showing they were unworthy of
firearm possession. (In April, mental health experts determined that the
Thousands Oaks assailant did not qualify for a psychiatric hold, which would
have kept him from owning a gun for five years in the state.)
At the same time, we need to address the growing problem of how easily
firearms are stolen from homes and — in the growing world of gun-carrying —
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from cars. Approximately four hundred thousand guns are stolen every year in
the United States, keeping criminals stocked with the latest weaponry. At
Sandy Hook Elementary School, we saw the deadly consequences when law-
abiding citizens do not adequately secure their firearms.
After the Pittsburgh shooting, President Donald Trump indicated that an
armed guard could have ended the killing quicker. This is a common belief
when it comes to the second approach: limiting the damage once a shooting
begins. But while armed security personnel have helped in many instances, the
dangers they and responding police face in mass shooting scenarios are
considerable — and they too often prove ineffectual. The killer in California
took out the security guard with his first shot; he also quickly killed a police
sergeant who entered the bar. Indeed, four police officers were shot when they
entered the Pittsburgh synagogue in trying to end that massacre, which
underscores the danger of facing an AR-15.
Worse still, when a lone gunman rampaged through the Washington Navy Yard
in 2013, he was able to continue his deadly spree by killing an armed guard and
then using the guard’s weapon after he ran out of his original ammunition.
While the best way to stop shooters is to prevent them from having a gun in
the first place, if that cannot be done, the next best thing is to limit the
deadliness of their weaponry. Keeping AR-15s away from those who envision
mass shootings as their opportunity to achieve some glorious vindication of
their perceived grievances is important as is the need to restrict high-capacity
magazines, which house large amounts of ammunition that allow shooters to
rain destruction on potential victims without interruption.
Unfortunately, in 2017, a federal judge in California stopped the state’s newly
adopted complete ban on high-capacity magazines from going into effect, even
after conceding that “the existence of high capacity magazines only serves to
enhance the killing and injuring potential of a firearm.” The gunman at
Thousand Oaks proved him right on the facts — although dead wrong on the
law.
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Nearly every mass shooting illustrates how large-capacity magazines can
increase the death toll. Forcing a shooter to reload more frequently can provide
both opportunities for counter-attack, as we saw in the Florida yoga studio,
and for escape, as occurred during breaks in shooting in Thousand Oaks.
Although California’s laws have limited its rate of mass shootings to half that
of a more gun-friendly state like Florida, a more dedicated effort is still needed
if we are to adequately address this growing menace.
Contact us at [email protected].
IDEASTIME Ideas hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, andculture. We welcome outside contributions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views ofTIME editors.
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