Last Friday, there was a mass shooting at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora, Illinois. The gunman began shooting at his coworkers when he was being fired at a meeting with managers—he killed five of his coworkers and injured several police officers.
Those killed were Trevor Wehner, an intern on his first day and senior at Northern Illinois University; Clayton Parks, a human resources manager; Russell Beyer, a mold operator; Vicente Juarez, a stockroom attendant and forklift operator; and Josh Pinkard, the plant manager. The police officers’ identities have not been released.
The assailant should not have been legally able to purchase a gun as he was a convicted felon for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, however when he applied for a Firearm Owners Identification Card (FOID) in 2014, he lied on the application and said he had never been convicted of a felony and the screening process failed to detect his criminal record. However, a few weeks later he had applied for a concealed carry permit that led to Illinois state police to discover his criminal record and his permit was shortly revoked.
Illinois state law does not allow police to confiscate guns when a permit is taken and relies on an honor system where the individual tells the police that the gun is no longer in their possession. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says that the honor system “doesn’t work and has never worked.”
This shooting comes a day after the anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students and several teachers were killed—making it the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history since the Columbine school shooting in 1999. The gunman was also legally able to purchase his gun, an AR-15, due to several policies Trump rolled back, making it easier for dangerous individuals to purchase guns.
Since the Parkland shooting on February 14th last year, there has been one mass shooting every day and since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, there have been over 2,000 mass shootings. However, federal gun laws have not changed since 1994 when President Bill Clinton temporarily banned assault weapons.
Media Resources: Washington Post 2/17/19; CNN 2/18/19; CBS News 2/18/19; Feminist Newswire 2/16/19; NY Mag 2/15/18; Vox 2/14/19; Vox 3/14/18; Bustle 2/13/19
