Killing Machines
These assault rifles are legal to buy in most states, including Florida. In 1994, Congress passed an assault weapons ban that prohibited manufacturing AR-15 for civilian sale with large-capacity magazines, bayonets or pistol grips. The ban limited, but did not end, sales of AR-15s. This weapons ban expired in 2004.
Thanks to the folks at The National Rifle Association, we now have America's hall of shame and the dirty dozen.
While those friendly folks at NRA keep up their fight to stop an assault weapons ban, deranged killers continue to murder innocent individuals.
We must never allow these mass shootings to destroy or define our nation. The following hate crimes and, or terrorist acts must make us stronger and continue our resolve to outlaw all weapons of mass destruction.
Pulse Orlando nightclub Florida (June 12, 2016) Public safety officials say 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire at the club that calls itself the city's hottest gay bar. He took hostages, and after a three-hour stand-off police moved in. The gunman was killed, but not before perpetrating the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. At least 50 people were killed, and more than 50 were wounded and taken to area hospitals. Mateen was killed during a firefight with police.
Virginia Tech in Blacksburg (April 16, 2007) Seung-Hui Cho, a 23-year-old English major from Centerville, Va., entered the campus of Virginia Tech and opened fire. Thirty-two people were killed, and 17 others were injured. Cho also killed himself.
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut (Dec. 14, 2012) Adam Lanza went into Sandy Hook Elementary and killed 26 people — mostly children — before killing himself. He also killed his mother, Nancy Lanza.
Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas (Oct. 16, 1991) 35-year-old George Hennard walked into a cafeteria and opened fire with a handgun. He loaded and emptied his gun several times, leaving 23 people dead. Then he killed himself.
McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, Calififornia (July 18, 1984) James Oliver Huberty, a 41-year-old unemployed security guard, opened fire on a McDonald's in San Ysidro using a shotgun and a pistol. He killed 21 people and wounded 19. He was killed by police.
The University of Texas Tower in Austin (Aug. 1, 1966) Charles Whitman, a 25-year-old student who served with the Marines, murdered his mother and his wife before climbing the University of Texas Tower with six firearms. He began firing at pedestrians below. He killed 14 people and wounded 31 from the tower. He was killed by police.
Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. (April 20, 1999) Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, both students entered the school with four guns and pipe bombs. They killed 13 people and wounded 24, before killing themselves.
Edmond Post Office in Edmond, Ok. (Aug. 20, 1986) Patrick Henry Sherrill shot and killed 14 co-workers before taking his own life.
Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California (Dec. 2, 2015) Syed Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, opened fire at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. They killed 14 people and they were killed during a shootout with police.
American Civic Association, Binghamton, N.Y. (April 3, 2009) Jiverly Wong, a 42-year-old Vietnamese immigrant, opened fire on an immigration center in Binghamton, New York. Wong killed 13 people and wounded four others, before killing himself.
Fort Hood military base in Texas (Nov. 5, 2009) Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire using two handguns at the Fort Hood Military Base in Texas. He killed 13 people and wounded 30. Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013.
Washington Navy Yard in DC, our nation's capital. (Sept. 16, 2013) Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old former Navy reservist, opened fire at the Navy Yard. He killed 12 people before police killed him.
There were 372 mass shootings in the US last year, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker, which catalogues such incidents.
Some 13,286 people were killed in the US by firearms in 2015, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and 26,819 people injured these figures exclude suicide.