It has been confirmed that the semiautomatic rifle used in the recent Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting in California was brought from neighboring Nevada.
The 19-year-old boy who used AK-47-styled gun for the shooting, which killed three persons and injured 11, couldn’t have got the weapon from California because the state has been strictly enacting its gun laws.
It has been verified that shooter Santino William Legan had been residing in Nevada, and had legally bought the Romanian WASR-10 rifle from there.
After making the purchase, it was pretty simple for the 19-year-old to bring the deadly firearm across the border into California.
“The reach of the California law ends at our border and so we cannot control what other states do, and that’s what makes it so tough,” Xavier Becerra, the attorney general of California, said. “We may have progressive gun laws, but if other states don’t match us, we have to rely on the ability to catch [a person].”
Following the tragedy, California Democrats are demanding measures to be taken on the federal level to inhibit such incidents from happening again.
Big Mike’s Gun and Ammo, the store who sold the rifle to Legan, is also anxious about what needs be done to keep weapons away from the reach of destructive people.
Taking to Facebook, storeowner Mike wrote: “We feel so sorry for the Families of the CA shooting. May the POS rest in Hell.
“I would never ever sell any firearm to anyone who acted wrong or looks associated with any bad group like white power. Everyone is my brother and sister and I am mourning for the families.”
“Maybe people need to be 21 to buy?” Mike proposed in the post.
The store followed the law while selling the weapon as Nevada and several other states allow teenagers to purchase rifles, even the semiautomatic ones.
A report by Everytown for Gun Safety revealed that youngsters of ages 18 to 20 are four times more likely to engage in gun-related violence as compared to adults aged 21 and above.
In the wake of the deadly Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting in Florida, California raised the minimum age to obtain a shotgun or rifle from 18 to 21.
Recalling the measures taken by California to prevent such brutal bloodshed, senator Anthony Portantino said: “I feel it is imperative that California leads when Washington refuses to act.”
A study conducted in 2017 found that just within two weeks following a gun show in Nevada, the incidents of gun violence and deadly shootings in neighboring California cities increased abruptly.
The study results got further backing when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives traced 23,716 guns involved in various crimes in California the same year, only to find that a third of them had been brought from outside.
“California has some of the strongest gun laws in the nation, but because of the patchwork of gun laws state to state, we still see horrific shootings like what we saw in Gilroy,” said Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action.
“You’re only as safe as the closest state with the weakest gun laws,” she told BuzzFeed News.
Shannon praised Nevada’s recently-passed laws which will ensure background checks prior to gun sales from 2020 onwards, and will retrieve guns from people who can be a potential threat.
“Progress is happening and Nevada has made tremendous progress, but they’re making up for lost time,” Shannon said. “You can buy guns in Nevada that you can’t buy in California, and you can buy them at a younger age.”
The founder of Moms Demand Action emphasized that they demand an accurate and compulsory background check system implemented throughout the national territory.
Steve Sisolak, a spokesperson for Nevada Government, said the California Department of Safety is collaborating with law enforcement agencies to look into the matter and support the wretched families.
Sisolak expressed sympathy with the families of the deceased but refused to reply to any query related to the future gun laws.
So far, it has not been confirmed by the gov. spokesperson if the state will raise the age limit to buy a deadly weapon.
A nationwide gun control bill has been passed by the Democrat-led House but no action has been taken by the Republican-controlled Senate.
“Enough is enough. Congress has a responsibility to every family torn apart by gun violence to act, and help advance a future that is finally free from this senseless violence,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said while condemning the neglect of the upper house.
“Every day the Senate refuses to act is a stain on the conscience of our nation.”
Blaming the Republicans for blocking gun-control legislation, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said they were doing what they can to end gun violence in the state.
“It’s just an outrage. I can’t put borders up — speaking of borders — in a neighboring state where you can buy this damn stuff legally. How the hell is that possible?” he said.
“I have no problem with the Second Amendment. You have a right to bear arms but not weapons of goddamn mass destruction.”