The Assault Weapons Ban and Mass Shootings...

Yesterday I linked an article that detailed the seven mass shootings that have occured in the past month's time. Today I want to walk through each of the seven incidents and discuss why the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban" of 1994 - specifically the reauthorization of a new AWB - would be completely ineffective. The hope is to provide a comprehensive guide to the various incidents and players, with an emphasis on providing as many hard facts as possible. We'll take each incident and perpetrator separately.

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• MARCH 10, SAMSON, Ala. — A gunman kills 10 people and commits suicide in a rampage that spanned two dozen miles across the southern Alabama countryside. Police say Michael McLendon had struggled to keep a job and left behind lists of employers and co-workers he believed had wronged him.

Perpetrator: Michael McLendon
Weapon: Semi-automatic rifle
Verdict: Unclear. With nature of firearm unknown, impossible to say whether so-called "Assault Weapons Ban" would have changed the outcome.

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• MARCH 22, OAKLAND, Calif. — A man pulled over in a routine traffic stop fatally shoots two officers and then kills two more in a gunfight in which the suspect was also killed. Relatives say Lovelle Mixon, 26, had been frustrated about not finding work and feared returning to jail.

Perpetrator: Lovelle Mixon
Weapon: Semi-automatic pistol & rifle

Status: Prohibited person. "Authorities said Saturday night that Mixon had an extensive criminal history and was in violation of parole for assault with a deadly weapon" Additionally, the weapons used were not legal in CA.

Verdict: Gun control ineffective. Perpetrator was forbidden by law from owning firearms.

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• MARCH 29, SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A man shoots and kills his two children and three other relatives, then kills himself at a family housewarming party in an upscale neighborhood. Investigators don't yet know the motive of Devan Kalathat, a 42-year-old engineer at Yahoo.

Perpetrator: Devan Kalathat
Weapon: Two semi-automatic handguns
Verdict: Inconclusive. Pistols not covered by AWB.

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• MARCH 29, CARTHAGE, N.C. — A man opens fire in a nursing home and kills seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them. Investigators say Robert Stewart, 45, apparently had targeted an estranged wife, a nurse's assistant who escaped by hiding in a bathroom.

Perpetrator: Robert Stewart
Weapon: "Deer rifle", double-barrel shotgun
Verdict: Current "Assault Weapons Ban" would not have affected choice of firearm.

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• APRIL 3, BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — A gunman bursts into an immigrant center and kills 13 people before killing himself. Police say Jiverly Wong, a 41-year-old Vietnamese immigrant, was apparently upset about losing his job and about people picking on him for his limited English.

Perpetrator: Jiverly Wong
Weapon: Two semi-automatic handguns
Status: Inconclusive. Suspect "had permit" for handguns, but had a criminal record.
Verdict: Inconclusive. Pistols not covered by AWB. Additionally, NY extended AWB so that it remains in effect; also requires permit for firearms ownership.

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• APRIL 4, PITTSBURGH — A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opens fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call, killing three of them. Police say Richard Poplawski, 23, had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Perpetrator: Richard Poplawski
Weapon: Semi-automatic rifle, handgun.
Status: Ineligible person to own firearms - suspect had dishonorable discharge from Marines: "Neighbors said Mr. Poplawski had been kicked out of North Catholic High School and then was dishonorably discharged from the Marines three years ago, and had worked a series of short-term jobs in recent years."
Verdict: Gun control ineffective. Perpetrator was forbidden by law from owning firearms.

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• APRIL 4, GRAHAM, Wash. — A man fatally shoots his five children in their mobile home and then takes his own life in his car miles away. Relatives identified the father as James Harrison. A motive was not yet known.

Perpetrator: James Harrison
Weapon: "Rifle"

Verdict: Unknown. With nature of firearm unknown, impossible to say whether so-called "Assault Weapons Ban" would have changed the outcome.

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We have two cases where existing gun laws were already broken; we have one case where it's possible that laws were broken; and four cases where it appears the perpetrators were law-abiding gun owners. In all but two cases, the so-called Assault Weapons Ban would not have affected the situations, as they were committed with firearms that would not have been affected by the ban; in those two cases, the weapons used were not identified.

One thing is clear in this analysis: Had the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 been renewed in 2004, only two out of the seven recent mass shootings could possibly have been affected. In all but one case, the suspect used either a handgun or a non-AWB-affected rifle, and it's quite possible that even in that last case the firearm used would not have been affected by the AWB.

The five non-prohibited perpetrators illustrate the messy, dangerous side to freedom. Sometimes people snap; and sometimes, in statistically insignificant numbers, when they snap they decide to take others with them. Short of dramatically and unConstitutionally changing the American way of life with a complete ban on firearms, there's little that can be done to safeguard against these acts.

And while that thought is disconcerting, it's far less disconcerting than the certain police state needed to prevent such acts from occuring again.

That is all.