Category Archives: US gun control

Texas takes step toward more gun control as US mass shootings on record pace – as it happened

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The United States is suffering mass shootings this year at a pace that means 2023 is already on track to become a record year for such killings – even as the Republican-controlled legislature of Texas took a small step towards greater gun safety laws.

The mass shooting in Allen, Texas, on Saturday was the second deadliest gun massacre of the year and just the latest in a string of such killings that are blighting 2023 and leaving many Americans in despair that action will be taken to stem the bloodshed.

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Texas mall shooting: gunman expressed interest in neo-Nazi views – report

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Federal agents reportedly examining social media history of alleged shooter Mauricio Garcia

US federal officials are looking into whether the gunman who killed eight people at a Dallas-area mall expressed an interest in white supremacist ideology, as they work to try to discern a motive for the attack, a law enforcement official has told the Associated Press.

The official cautioned that the investigation was in its early stages.

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‘Spare us your prayers’: Ted Cruz faces backlash after Texas mall shooting kills eight

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Critics say the Republican senator should advocate for meaningful gun control rather than invoke prayer after mass, deadly violence

Texas US senator Ted Cruz’s comment that he was “praying” for families of the eight victims killed in a shooting at a shopping mall in his state has sparked outrage as many critics say the Republican should advocate for meaningful gun control rather than repeatedly invoke prayer after mass, deadly violence.

The backlash came as President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass gun control bills in the wake of Saturday’s attack, in which the gunman was also killed, in Allen, Texas.

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‘Fearful and trigger happy’: flooded with guns and paranoia, the US reels from shootings

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Permissive self-defense and gun laws spotlighted by recent shootings in which victims approached gunmen by mistake

Waldes Thomas and Diamond Darville were driving for the grocery delivery service Instacart near Miami in mid-April when they drove the order up to the wrong address.

Thomas, 19, and Darville, 18, reportedly told authorities they were backing away from the home when the owner emerged with his son, grabbed on to the driver’s window and fired a gun three times at their car. Antonio Caccavale, who didn’t hit anyone, later reportedly claimed to police who investigated the encounter that he shot because he feared for his and his son’s lives as Thomas and Darville’s car ran over his foot and struck a boulder.

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Shooter at Michigan State who killed three had no ties to school, officials say

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Details emerge about shooting, in which shooter left note mentioned fatigue at ‘being rejected’ by women

The man who stormed on to Michigan State University’s campus and shot three students to death before killing himself bought the ammunition fired during the attack only a few hours earlier, investigators announced on Thursday.

Additionally, authorities said, the murderer had no personal or professional connection to the school, making his motive a mystery to them, despite his leaving a note which – among other things – complained about feeling rejected and not having sex during the last decade.

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Washington governor signs three gun-control bills into law

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Democrats and activists applaud state for new legislation, which includes a ban on the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles

Washington’s Governor Jay Inslee signed a trio of bills meant to prevent gun violence on Tuesday – one banning the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles, one imposing a 10-day waiting period on firearms purchases, and one clearing the way for lawsuits against gun makers or sellers in certain cases.

A crowd of gun-control activists and Democratic lawmakers broke into cheers as he signed the measures, which he said would not solve all gun violence but would save lives.

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Suspect in shooting of six-year-old over stray basketball arrested in Florida

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Robert Singletary will not resist being transferred back to home state of North Carolina to face four attempted murder charges

The North Carolina man who is accused of shooting a six-year-old girl along with her parents after a basketball with which the child was playing rolled into his yard is not resisting being transferred to his home state after being arrested in Florida.

After his arrest on Thursday in Tampa, Florida, 24-year-old Robert Louis Singletary made a court appearance on Friday during which he was asked whether he would sign the extradition waiver that would allow officials to transport him back to North Carolina, where the shooting occurred two days earlier.

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One mass killing every 6.53 days: US shootings are on a record pace

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Despite the death toll, there is little indication of federal policy changes, but some states have tried to impose more gun control

The US is setting a record yearly pace for mass killings, with around one each week. According to a database tracking such events, the death toll from 17 mass killings in 111 days is 88. All were shot. Only 2009 saw as many such killings in the same period.

At a Nashville elementary school, three children and three adults were killed. In northern California, farm workers died over a workplace grudge. At a ballroom outside Los Angeles, dancers were massacred as they celebrated the Lunar New Year.

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US gun safety group’s chilling new ad calls for assault weapons ban

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Brady ad features US navy veteran’s shocking account of Vietnam gunfire and comes on heels of several devastating mass shootings

A gun safety group has created a provocative new ad campaign calling for the renewal of a federal assault weapons ban, in the wake of several devastating mass shootings across the US that involved the use of military-style rifles.

The ad, released on Thursday by the gun safety group Brady and shared exclusively with the Guardian, features a US navy veteran of the Vietnam war reading a chilling account of coming under gunfire and being struck by a bullet.

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Two arrested and charged with murder over Alabama shooting that killed four

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Investigators make announcement following deadly shooting at 16th birthday party in small town of Dadeville on Saturday

Two people were arrested and charged with murder in connection with a shooting that killed four people at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Alabama last weekend, investigators announced on Wednesday.

It was the first police news conference since the day after the shooting, which happened on Saturday. The district attorney, Mike Segrest, said the pair would be charged as adults and prosecutors would ask a judge to hold them without bail.

Associated Press contributed reporting

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Woman shot dead in New York state after friend drove into wrong driveway

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Kevin Monahan charged with second-degree murder of Kaylin Gillis after opening fire on car

A woman looking for a friend’s house in upstate New York was shot dead after the car she was riding in mistakenly went to the wrong address and was met with gunfire in the driveway, authorities have said.

Kaylin Gillis, 20, was travelling through the rural town of Hebron with three people on Saturday night when the group made a wrong turn on to the property.

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South Dakota governor says her two-year-old grandchild has several guns

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Kristi Noem tells audience at NRA forum toddler has a shotgun, a rifle and a pony

South Dakota’s governor told an audience of people that her two-year-old grandchild has several guns.

While speaking on Friday at a National Rifle Association (NRA) lobbying leadership forum in Indiana, the Republican governor Kristi Noem told audience members her toddler grandchild has multiple guns, reported Mediaite.

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Mayor says Louisville shooter’s rifle ‘will be back on the streets’ under state law

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Kentucky law requires officers to send assault-style rifle used in shooting to state police officials to sell at auction

The mayor of Louisville has said Kentucky law would make him a criminal if he destroys the assault-style rifle used by a gunman in Monday’s killing of five bank employees in his city.

An emotional Craig Greenberg was speaking Tuesday at a lunchtime press conference during which police revealed the killer – an employee at the Old National Bank who also wounded eight others, including two critically – bought the weapon legally six days previously.

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One in five Americans has had family member killed by gun violence – study

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Research, published a day after five shot dead at Louisville bank, reflects increasing incidence of gun-related attacks

One in five Americans has lost a family member to gun violence, an alarming survey published on Tuesday claims.

The research came out one day after five people were killed by a gunman at a Louisville bank, at least the 15th mass shooting of the month, and 146th this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

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Fifth victim dies in Louisville bank shooting

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The attacker, who livestreamed the shooting, was killed by police but not before he injured eight others

A Louisville bank employee armed with a rifle opened fire at his workplace on Monday morning, killing five people – including a close friend of Kentucky’s governor – while livestreaming the attack on Instagram, authorities said.

Police arrived as shots were still being fired inside Old National Bank and killed the shooter in an exchange of gunfire, Louisville metro police department chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said. The city’s mayor, Craig Greenberg, called the attack “an evil act of targeted violence”.

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Nashville council votes to reinstate expelled Democrat Justin Jones

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Republican majority had ousted Jones and fellow house member Justin Pearson over protests they led demanding gun control

The city of Nashville’s governing council on Monday afternoon voted unanimously to return expelled Black lawmaker Justin Jones to the Tennessee state legislature.

The body’s Republican majority state lawmakers had expelled Jones and fellow house member Justin Pearson late last week because they led protests in the chamber demanding gun control after yet another mass shooting in an American school, this one at an elementary school in the city days before.

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Two Democratic members expelled from Tennessee house over gun control protest

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Joe Biden and Barack Obama condemn expulsion of Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from Republican-controlled state house

Two Democratic lawmakers have been expelled from Tennessee’s GOP-dominated House, an extraordinary act of political retaliation for their role in a gun control demonstration after the killings at a Nashville elementary school last week.

Thousands of protesters have flocked to the Tennessee state capitol to support three Democratic members who were facing removal. Only two of the three were ultimately forced out.

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Florida closes in on six-week abortion ban while also allowing no-permit gun carry

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Abortion legislation needs to move through house before gaining DeSantis’s likely signature while gun-carry law enacted today

Florida took another step to the right on Monday when the state senate approved a bill to ban abortions after six weeks, a measure supported by Republican governor and expected presidential candidate Ron DeSantis – who on the same day signed into law a bill allowing the public to carry concealed guns without a permit.

The latest proposal to restrict reproductive rights must still be approved by the house in the state legislature before it reaches the governor’s desk. Florida currently prohibits abortions after 15 weeks.

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Funeral held for ‘spitfire’ teacher killed in Nashville school shooting

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Cindy ‘CiCi’ Peak, 61, was among six victims who were shot to death at the Covenant School

A substitute teacher who was known for her devout Christian faith before she and five others were shot to death at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, was buried Saturday.

The funeral of Cindy “CiCi” Peak, 61, was the second held for a victim of the massacre last Tuesday at the Covenant School. Evelyn Dieckhaus, one of three nine-year-olds killed during the shooting, was buried Friday.

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Tennessee governor fails to mention gun control in message after shooting

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Republican Bill Lee called for compassion in pre-recorded video but didn’t mention guns after six killed at Nashville school

The Republican governor of Tennessee called for compassion and an end to mass violence but pointedly declined to mention guns or gun control in a message to his state on Tuesday evening, a day after three nine-year-old children and three adults were shot dead at a Christian school in Nashville.

“I understand there is pain,” Bill Lee said in a short, pre-recorded video. “I understand the desperation to have answers, to place blame, to argue about a solution that could prevent this horrible tragedy.”

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