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The suspects in the shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, were only 18 years old, according to authorities, when they bought the weapons used in the attacks: too young to buy alcohol or cigarettes legally , but old. enough to arm themselves with assault weapons.
The Buffalo suspect was taken to a hospital last year for a mental health assessment, but the incident did not trigger New York’s “red flag” law and he was still able to buy a gun. The Texas suspect’s mother told the ABC that she sometimes gave him a “feeling of uneasiness” and that he could “be aggressive … if he was really angry.” But authorities say he had no known criminal or mental health record. The state does not have this red flag law.
They are the only suspected mass shooters in the United States whose ability to obtain weapons has raised concerns. In some cases, the shooters had weapons legally in accordance with current firearms laws, either due to a background check or due to a lack of attention to behavioral warnings by law enforcement forces. ‘order.
After the shootings, which left 31 people dead, President Joe Biden renewed calls for tougher gun laws and questioned whether people up to the age of 18 should be allowed to buy firearms. In the past, Biden has called for a ban on assault weapons and an extension of background checks. Many Republicans oppose the measures.
Take a look at how the suspects in mass shootings over a decade obtained weapons, based on police reports, court documents and contemporary reports:
UVALDE, TEXAS: MAY 24, 2022. 21 DEAD.
Salvador Ramos legally bought two weapons in the days before the attack that killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School: an AR-style rifle from a federally licensed gun dealer in the Uvalde area on May 17 and a second rifle on May 20. Ramos shopped a few days after turning 18, the minimum age under federal law to buy a rifle. He also bought several hundred rounds of ammunition. At least one of the rifles was a DDM4, made by Daniel Defense and modeled from the US Army’s M4 rifle rifle, although without the M4’s ability to switch to a fully automatic system or fire a burst of three rounds. “The idea of an 18-year-old boy being able to walk into a gun shop and buy two assault weapons is wrong,” Biden said hours after Tuesday’s shooting. “Why, in the name of God, do you need an assault weapon except to kill someone?” Ramos was killed at school by a Border Patrol team.
BUFFALO, NEW YORK: MAY 14, 2022. 10 DEAD.
Payton Gendron legally bought the Bushmaster XM-15 E2S used in the attack on Tops Friendly Market from a federally licensed arms dealer near his home in Conklin, New York, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south. is from Buffalo. In a personal online diary that appeared after the attack, Gendron said he bought the AR-15-style weapon in January, bought a shotgun in December, and received a rifle as a Christmas gift from his father when he was 16 years old. Last year, Gendron was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation under a state mental health law after writing “murder-suicide” in response to a question from a professor. New York is one of 19 states with red-flag laws that allow courts to take up arms from people who pose an immediate danger, but that didn’t happen with Gendron, who was 17 at the time. State police described the threat as “general in nature” and said it did not “specifically mention gunfire or firearms.” Following the shooting, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order stressing the need for red-flag interventions and said she would try to prevent under-21s from buying some semi-automatic weapons in the state. A similar law in California was declared unconstitutional. Gendron is charged with murder.
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA: MAY 26, 2021. 9 DEAD.
Samuel James Cassidy legally bought the three 9mm pistols he used to kill his co-workers and then himself in a courtyard of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. He also stored a dozen weapons and 25,000 rounds of ammunition in his home, which he set on fire before the shooting, and had high-capacity magazines that could have been illegal under California law, depending on when they were purchased. . The Santa Clara District Attorney said authorities would have tried to remove Cassidy’s weapons in accordance with the state’s red flag law if U.S. Customs and Border Protection had informed them of a “meeting with Cassidy on his return to California from a trip to the Philippines in 2016. Customs officers said in a report that Cassidy had “dark thoughts about hurting” two specific people and had a notebook in which he expressed his hatred for the traffic agency.
BOULDER, COLORADO: MARCH 22, 2021. 10 DEAD.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa bought a Ruger AR-556 pistol, a semi-automatic weapon with a capacity of up to 30 cartridges, six days before the shooting at the King Soopers grocery store, police said. Alissa was prone to sudden rage and was convicted of minor assault and sentenced to parole for assaulting a high school classmate. Colorado has a universal background check law that covers almost all gun sales, but that crime would not have prevented it from buying a gun, experts said. If it had been a crime, federal law would have banned its purchase. Days before the shooting, a judge overturned city ordinances banning assault rifles and high-capacity magazines in Boulder, citing a state law banning local gun bans. The ANR supported the lawsuit challenging the ordinances. A judge ruled last month that Alissa is mentally incompetent to be tried.
ATLANTA: MARCH 16, 2021. 8 DEAD.
Robert Aaron Long bought a 9mm gun a few hours before firing at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area, police said. A gun shop attorney said he complies with federal background check laws. Georgia, like most states, has no waiting period for a weapon. Long claimed to have a “sex addiction,” police said, and last year spent time at an addiction recovery center. Federal law prohibits guns from people who are “illegal users or addicts of a controlled substance” or who have been prosecuted at a mental health or substance abuse treatment center, but does not mention the treatment for other compulsions as a property barrier. Long is serving a life sentence without parole.
MIDLAND, TEXAS, AUGUST. 31 OF 2019. 7 DEAD.
Seth Aaron Ator bought an AR-style rifle through a private sale, which allowed him to evade a federal background check and fired him indiscriminately from his car into passing vehicles and commercial plazas. He also hijacked a mail truck and killed the driver. Ator had been blocked from getting a gun in 2014 after they were given background checks because a court determined he was mentally ill, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the matter. Private sales, which account for up to 40% of all gun sales according to some estimates, are not subject to a federal background check and private sellers are not required to determine whether a buyer is eligible to own a gun. Ator was killed by police.
DAYTON, OHIO: AGO. 4 OF 2019. 9 DEAD.
Connor Betts’ classmates said he was suspended from high school for compiling a “hit list” and a “rape list,” but authorities said nothing in his background prevented him from buying the gun. AR-15 style used in the Ned Peppers shooting. Bar. Ohio law requires that sealed records of any juvenile delinquency be removed after five years or when the offender turns 23 years old. Betts, who was 24 at the time of the shooting, bought the weapon online from a Texas dealer. He was then sent to a daytime gun dealer in the Dayton area, in accordance with federal law. Betts was killed by police.
EL PASO, TEXAS, AUG. 3 OF 2019. 23 DEAD.
Patrick Crusius bought an AK-47-style rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammunition cartridges online 45 days before entering a Walmart store and opening fire, killing 23 people and wounding two dozen more, before confessing that he had been targeting Mexicans. according to prosecutors. A lawyer for the Crusius family said his mother expressed concern over the purchase in a June 27 call to police. Police said they asked him if Crusius, who was 21 at the time, was old enough to buy a gun. Police said he was assured he was and would qualify if he passed a background check. Police said they only expressed concern for his safety and said they had not seen any recent changes in his behavior. Crusius posted a racist message online just before the attack and appeared to be targeting Mexicans. He is charged with manslaughter in Texas and federal hate crimes and firearms.
VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA: MAY 31, 2019. 12 DEAD.
Former Virginia Beach City employee DeWayne Craddock legally bought six firearms over three years before opening fire on a municipal building, including the two .45-caliber pistols used in the attack. An independent review of the shooting, commissioned by Virginia Beach City Council, found that Craddock showed no warning signs or “prohibited behaviors associated with a path to violence” and had no known history of mental health treatment. . Craddock was killed by police. ___
THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA: NOV. 7 OF 2018. 12 DEAD.
Ian David Long, a former Navy machine gunner who served in Afghanistan, used a .45-caliber pistol that was legally purchased with a magazine loaded in the shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill. California tried to ban high-capacity magazines, but a federal judge reversed it after a pro-gun group called for it. Months before the shooting, the sheriff’s agents who called Long’s home found him acting irrationally, but a mental health specialist did not feel compelled to commit involuntarily. California has a red flag law, but there is no indication that authorities have applied for a court order to remove Long’s guns. Long committed suicide.
PITTSBURGH: OCTOBER. 27 OF 2018. 11 DEAD.
Robert Gregory Bowers had a transportation license and was the legal owner of the Colt …