As everyone should be aware, a lot of people have gone off half-cocked (no pun intended) as a result of the terrible South Florida shooting. A number of people have a fundamental lack of knowledge and lack of understanding with regard to such types of mass shootings (4 or more fatalities). Since Columbine in 1999, the vast majority of mass shootings have lasted no more than 10 minutes. The Virginia Tech (Cho) shooting lasted 11 minutes; Sandy Hook (Adam Lanza) lasted 5 – 9 minutes; San Bernardino lasted 5 minutes; Fort Hood (Hasan) lasted 10 minutes; Auroa (James Holmes) last 5 – 9 minutes; and the Charleston, South Carolina Church (Dylann Roof) lasted 7 minutes. Pulse nightclub (Mateen) lasted from about 2:09 a.m. until about 5:14 a.m.
Adam Lanza (the Sandy Hook shooter) had 10 30-round magazines and an AR-15. He fired at a rate no faster than a 150-year-old lever action Henry Rifle (popular among Union Soldiers in the Civil War). Hasan (the Fort Hood shooter) was 1/3 slower than that; and Cho (the Virginia Tech shooter) was 50% slower.
Cho fired an average of 15-rounds per minute; Lanza fired 15 – 31-rounds per minute; Farook and Malik (San Bernardino) fired 7 – 14-rounds per minute; Hasan (Fort Hood) fired 21-rounds per minute; Harris and Klebold (Columbine) fired 4-rounds per minute; and Dylann Roof (Charleston, South Carolina Church shooting) fired 11-rounds per minute. Mateen (Pulse nightclub) fired about 110 rounds (in approximately 3 hours). He killed 49 people; and he was shot by police and died.
The foregoing should give you a pretty good picture that neither an AR-15 nor a 30-round magazine should really be blamed. Guess what? Cho (the Virginia Tech shooter) killed about 30 people; and his firearm of choice was a Walther .22 hand gun with .22 LR ammunition. Not counting the Las Vegas mass shooting and the Pulse nightclub (which lasted about 3 hours), I think that number is the highest number of persons killed.
About 85% of the mass shootings have been in “gun free zones” – about 30% by state law or school policy, about 48% by private policy, and about 9% by Federal law or policy. A “gun free zone” means that the bad guy shooter is probably the only one with a gun. Think school, theater, college dorm, post office, bar/lounge, and so forth.
When shooters are the only individuals with a gun (and in gun free zone), there does not appear to be any need for a major high-capacity magazine. They shoot at their own selected pace.
Statistics indicate that most of the shooters are looking for fame (the news media hypes it and gives it to them) or are on a suicide mission. About 40% of the mass shooters commit suicide; and about 23% of the attackers are shot by the Police. About 7% of the attackers are subdued by Police and about 14% are subdued by intended victims. 4% surrender to Police and 4% are shot by intended victim(s). In about 8% of the cases, the attacker leaves.
Let’s talk about “background checks”. About 79% of the firearms utilized were purchased from a FFL Dealer; about 6% came from illegal sales; about 13% were stolen; and, guess what, 0% (zero) came from private sales. Yet the politically correct outcry is to require background checks on private sales (like from father to son, neighbor to neighbor, adult brother to adult sister, etc.)
None of the mass shooting perpetrators have been on the “No-Fly” list.
Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook) killed 26 people in 5 – 9 minutes, with rounds fired per minute of 15 – 31. He entered the Sandy Hook School with 10 30-round magazines but did not use full capacity before reloading. 3 magazines were unused and 4 others were left with 10, 11, 13 and 14-rounds remaining. He did not need a high rate of fire, or the extra rounds.
The Virginia Tech shooter (Cho) had 10 15-round magazines with him; however, he filled 6 of them with just 10-rounds and 4 with just 11-rounds. He had 7 other 10-round magazines for a total of 17 magazines loaded with 174-rounds, for an average of 10.2-rounds per magazine. He emptied every one of his 17 magazines by firing 1-round every 4 seconds (average) which isn’t rapid fire by anyone’s definition, yet 30 people died in the gun-free zone.
Most of the foregoing statistics were compiled by Michael Martin in his book Countering The Mass Shooter Threat; but the same are available from and verifiable from government sources.
Guess what – the Ruger Mark IV, .22 Semi-automatic handgun has a 10-round magazine; and it is effectively identical to the Walther 22, .22 LR pistol which was used to kill the largest amount of people in mass shootings except for the Pulse nighclub and the Las Vegas tragedy.
It’s not the magazine capacity. It’s not the background check needed for private sales. It’s generally not the type of firearm. It’s the person! They kill with cars, trucks, IED’s, bombs (Austin), .22 LR pistols, 10-round magazines, box cutters and even pressure cookers.
Common denominator is: time, gun free zone, absence of resistance, and “unstable” person seeking fame or death. If you REALLY want to understand and know the reasons and causes of the violence and mass shootings, watch a lecture/seminar from LTC Dave Grossman and buy and read the book Countering The Mass Shooter Threat by Michael Martin. When seconds count, the law enforcement officers are minutes away.
Robert E. Morris
Jefferson County Resident