[Vision2020] On behalf of sanity . . .

[Ron Force]

>From the New York Times:

September 17, 2013
State Law Stopped Gunman From Buying Rifle, Officials Say
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
WASHINGTON — The gunman who killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday test fired an AR-15 assault rifle at a Virginia gun store last week but was stopped from buying one because state law there prohibits the sale of such weapons to out-of-state buyers, according to two senior law enforcement officials.
Instead, the gunman, Aaron Alexis of Texas, bought a law-enforcement-style shotgun – an 870 Remington pump – and used it on Monday as he rampaged through the Navy facility, said the officials, who requested anonymity because of the continuing investigation.
“The gun was broken in half and he had it in a bag,” one official said of the Remington. “He went inside the building and assembled it in a bathroom.”
The gunman then perched himself above an atrium where he fired down on people who had been eating breakfast, officials said, adding that he used shotgun shells that had roughly a dozen large ball-bearing-like shots in them, increasing the lethal nature of each shot.
“When he discharged, the pieces of lead would spread the farther they went,” the one official said. “It is similar to weapons used in bird shooting but on a more serious scale. These were not bullets but many small pieces of lead flying through the air.”
After firing down on people, the gunmen began to search for more people to shoot, and as he searched, he was confronted by a security guard near an exit, according to the officials. The gunman shot the security guard and took his semiautomatic handgun, then headed back to atrium.
“He runs back upstairs and cranks off more rounds with the handgun and then heads to another stairwell where he confronts a worker there and shoots him,” the official said.
The gunman is believed to have shot the Navy employee, who worked in maintenance, with the pistol near another exit.
On Saturday, Mr. Alexis bought the Remington shotgun and ammunition at a Virginia gun store and range, where he also rented a rifle and practiced with it, according to a lawyer for the store, Sharpshooters Small Arms Range.
The lawyer, J. Michael Slocum, said in an e-mail that Mr. Alexis bought a Remington 870 Express 12-gauge shotgun and approximately two boxes of ammunition, or about 24 shells. The purchases were approved after the store owner conducted the required federal background check, Mr. Slocum said.
“After the terrible and tragic events at the Navy Yard, the Sharpshooters was visited by federal law enforcement authorities, who reviewed the Range’s records, including video and other materials,” Mr. Slocum said. “So far as is known, Mr. Alexis visited the Range only once, and he has had no other contact with the Range.”
Despite statements on Monday from senior law enforcement officials — which were widely reported in the news media, including in The New York Times — that an AR-15 had been found at the scene, no such gun has been found. The authorities say they do not believe the gunman used one.
It is unclear if Mr. Alexis’s psychiatric issues ever progressed to the point that he was involuntarily committed to a mental health institution, or determined officially to be mentally ill, either of which would have barred him from purchasing a gun.
If neither applied — and most people who are treated for mental illness never get to that point — then his situation would be similar to other mass shooters, like Jared L. Loughner, who killed 6 people and wounded 13, including former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, in Tucson in 2011, and James E. Holmes, who killed 12 people and wounded dozens of others in a Colorado movie theater in 2012.
Mental health experts point out that the vast majority of people with mental illness are never violent. On the other hand, studies have found an increased risk for violence among those with serious mental illness, including schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder.
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