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WaPo Editorial Board: After Gilroy, the question persists: Why?
Source: Washington Post
After Gilroy, the question persists: Why?
By Editorial Board July 29 at 6:27 PM
ONCE AGAIN America woke up to news of a mass shooting. This time, it was at a popular food festival in California and among those killed was a 6-year-old boy, Stephen Romero, who had been playing at an inflatable bounce house when he was shot in the back. “Why? Really, that’s my question — why?” asked one shell-shocked survivor posing a question that has been asked far too many times by far too many other communities shattered by mass shootings. Tragically, it is a question that inevitably will be asked again because of the refusal by lawmakers to confront gun violence by reforming the laws that help to enable the killing of innocents.
“It seems this was a random act, but again, we’ve got a long way to go before we can come to a determination what his motivations were,” said Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee of Sunday’s rampage at the garlic festival that killed three people — the 6-year-old, a 13-year-old girl and a man in his 20s — and wounded at least 12 others. Among those injured were the 6-year-old’s mother and grandmother. Videos uploaded to social media replayed the terrifying sounds of shots fired and panicked people fleeing. The 19-year-old gunman was killed by police, and with the investigation still in its preliminary stages, much remains unknown.
Thank goodness for the quick response of brave police officers, but what possible rationale exists for allowing citizens to have access to weapons that aren’t for hunting or self-defense but designed for war? California has banned assault weapons, but authorities said the 19-year-old legally purchased an SKS, an AK-47-type rifle, in Nevada on July 9. What does it say about our priorities that this killer was better armed than the police who protect us?
But what is known stands as yet another indictment of the country’s broken gun laws. Security was tight at the festival, with the presence of armed officers and the public subject to bag searches and metal detector wands. The gunman apparently gained entry by cutting through a perimeter fence and, using an assault-style weapon, sprayed gunfire from side to side, seemingly indiscriminately. Police said they shot and killed him within one minute. Let that sink in — one minute and three people dead, others wounded, many terrified.
-snip-
By Editorial Board July 29 at 6:27 PM
ONCE AGAIN America woke up to news of a mass shooting. This time, it was at a popular food festival in California and among those killed was a 6-year-old boy, Stephen Romero, who had been playing at an inflatable bounce house when he was shot in the back. “Why? Really, that’s my question — why?” asked one shell-shocked survivor posing a question that has been asked far too many times by far too many other communities shattered by mass shootings. Tragically, it is a question that inevitably will be asked again because of the refusal by lawmakers to confront gun violence by reforming the laws that help to enable the killing of innocents.
“It seems this was a random act, but again, we’ve got a long way to go before we can come to a determination what his motivations were,” said Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee of Sunday’s rampage at the garlic festival that killed three people — the 6-year-old, a 13-year-old girl and a man in his 20s — and wounded at least 12 others. Among those injured were the 6-year-old’s mother and grandmother. Videos uploaded to social media replayed the terrifying sounds of shots fired and panicked people fleeing. The 19-year-old gunman was killed by police, and with the investigation still in its preliminary stages, much remains unknown.
Thank goodness for the quick response of brave police officers, but what possible rationale exists for allowing citizens to have access to weapons that aren’t for hunting or self-defense but designed for war? California has banned assault weapons, but authorities said the 19-year-old legally purchased an SKS, an AK-47-type rifle, in Nevada on July 9. What does it say about our priorities that this killer was better armed than the police who protect us?
But what is known stands as yet another indictment of the country’s broken gun laws. Security was tight at the festival, with the presence of armed officers and the public subject to bag searches and metal detector wands. The gunman apparently gained entry by cutting through a perimeter fence and, using an assault-style weapon, sprayed gunfire from side to side, seemingly indiscriminately. Police said they shot and killed him within one minute. Let that sink in — one minute and three people dead, others wounded, many terrified.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gilroy-shooting-is-yet-another-indictment-of-our-gun-laws/2019/07/29/f937eba4-b232-11e9-8f6c-7828e68cb15f_story.html
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