A database compiled by the Associated Press (AP), USA Today, and Northeastern University recorded that the United States suffered more mass killings in 2019 than any year on record, with 41 recorded incidents and 211 deaths.
The AP report stated: “California, with some of the most strict gun laws in the country, had the most, with eight such mass slayings.”
A December 28 report from Breitbart noted that California has universal background checks, gun registration requirements, gun confiscation laws, a 10-day waiting period on gun purchases, an “assault weapons” ban, a one-handgun-a-month purchase limit, a ban on campus carry for self-defense, and a ban on teachers being armed to return fire if under attack. California also requires would-be gun buyers to acquire a safety certificate from the state before being permitted to purchase a gun.
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Additionally, California has placed controls on ammunition purchases.
Despite the lack of any statistical evidence between strict gun controls and gun-related deaths (other than reasonable conclusions that strict gun controls lead to even more violence, e.g., Chicago and New York City), gun-control advocates renew their efforts to impose stricter controls on gun purchase after every mass shooting.
Speaking to reporters after a lengthy phone call last summer with Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association, President Trump said that the United States has “very strong background checks right now,” adding that mass shootings were a “mental problem,” not the result of easy access to guns.
A December 23 AP report stated: “The majority of the killings involved people who knew each other — family disputes, drug or gang violence or people with beefs that directed their anger at co-workers or relatives.”
Interestingly, observed AP, while “firearms were the weapon in all but eight of the mass killings. Other weapons included knives, axes and at least twice when the perpetrator set a mobile home on fire, killing those inside.”
So even if gun control did help prevent mass killings — and evidence suggests otherwise — we would also need knife control, ax control, and controls on matches to prevent all of them.
While onerous gun control laws do not stop mass killings, having firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens often helps stop such shootings. This fact of life was brought home on December 29, when a shooter at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, west of Fort Worth, was taken down by armed volunteer security members seconds after he began firing.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick praised the heroic actions of those volunteer church members. “They were well trained, well trained. The heroism today is unparalleled. This team responded quickly and within six seconds the shooting was over,” Patrick said. “Two of the parishioners who are volunteers on the security force drew their weapons and took out the killer immediately saving untold number of lives.”
Jack Wilson, the security volunteer who shot the gunman, is 71 years old and the owner of On Target Firearms Training Academy in Granbury, Texas, one town over from this writer’s home.
Photo: Manuel-F-O/iStock/Getty Images Plus
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Warren Mass has served The New American since its launch in 1985 in several capacities, including marketing, editing, and writing. Since retiring from the staff several years ago, he has been a regular contributor to the magazine. Warren writes from Texas and can be reached at [email protected].
