WITH all the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth by politicians and pundits across the country following the latest mass shooting in the US the one question they will ask and most of them will not honestly answer is why and how. We know why, people with mental illness are able to buy guns because the information on people with mental illness is not being made available to show up on background checks. We know how, because gop / tea-bagger obstructionist and jellyfish (spineless) democrats in congress, controlled by and/or afraid of the nra refused to pass the +Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 which would have outlawed assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The other part of the how falls directly on the American people who choose to believe the propaganda of the nra and so do not demand their politicians pass reasonable gun control laws. If you are one of the people who supports the nra's opposition to any gun control laws take a look in the mirror to see who shares responsibility for this latest mass shooting and the other mass shootings listed below. From +Mother Jones......
Army Spc. Ivan Lopez
Details
are still emerging as to exactly how and why Army Specialist Ivan Lopez
shot 3 people to death and injured 16 others in a rampage on Wednesday,
but we already know enough to be certain about one thing: We've seen
this grim story before, and not just literally at Fort Hood, the site of
a previous bloodbath in 2009. As the data from our in-depth investigation of mass shootings in America
shows, Lopez fits a familiar profile for perpetrators of this type of
crime. Here's how his background and actions echo those of many mass
shooters we analyzed from 67 cases over the past three decades:
Mental health problems
Lopez had serious mental health issues: He served in Iraq in 2011 and was being treated for anxiety and depression, and he was under evaluation for post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the attack. The majority of the mass shooters we studied had mental health problems—and at least 38 of them displayed signs of it prior to the killings. (Mental health problems among Iraq and Afghanistan vets are a major problem in and of itself.)
Guns obtained legally
Lopez reportedly purchased the gun he used, passing a background check, in nearby Killeen, Texas. The overwhelming majority of mass shooters in the scores of cases through 2012 obtained their weapons legally—nearly 80 percent of them. And the mass shooters in all five of the additional cases last year, from Santa Monica to the Washington Navy Yard, also got their guns legally.
Semi-automatic handguns
Lopez used a .45-caliber Smith & Wesson in the attack. Semi-automatic handguns are the weapon of choice for most mass shooters. It remains unclear how many shots Lopez fired or what type of ammunition device he used, but given his military background and the casualty count, it's more likely than not that he used a high-capacity magazine.
Age and gender of killers
As our study showed, the vast majority of mass shooters were men, ranging from young adult to middle-aged. Their average age was 35. Lopez was 34.
Murder-suicide cases
Just as Lopez did on Wednesday at Fort Hood, killers in 36 past cases ended their attacks by shooting themselves to death. Seven others died in police shootouts they had little hope of surviving, a.k.a. "suicide by cop." Lopez's case appears to be at the intersection of these factors: He shot himself in the head when confronted by a military police officer. (All five of the mass shooters in 2013 were shot and killed by law enforcement officers responding to the attacks.)
the haunting repeat of such gun violence at Fort Hood means that in the days ahead there will be intense scrutiny on security protocols at the sprawling military site, including what has or hasn't changed since 2009. But in terms of getting a handle on the perpetrator and the crime, investigators already have a lot to go on from scores of cases all over the country.
For much more of our reporting on mass shootings, gun violence and gun laws, see our full special reports: America Under the Gun and Newtown: One Year After.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/fort-hood-shooter-ivan-lopez-profile
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map?page=2
Details about the perpetrator of Wednesday's bloodbath echo those of many mass shooters.
| Thu Apr. 3, 2014 10:31 AM PDT
Army Spc. Ivan Lopez Mental health problems
Lopez had serious mental health issues: He served in Iraq in 2011 and was being treated for anxiety and depression, and he was under evaluation for post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the attack. The majority of the mass shooters we studied had mental health problems—and at least 38 of them displayed signs of it prior to the killings. (Mental health problems among Iraq and Afghanistan vets are a major problem in and of itself.)
Guns obtained legally
Lopez reportedly purchased the gun he used, passing a background check, in nearby Killeen, Texas. The overwhelming majority of mass shooters in the scores of cases through 2012 obtained their weapons legally—nearly 80 percent of them. And the mass shooters in all five of the additional cases last year, from Santa Monica to the Washington Navy Yard, also got their guns legally.
Semi-automatic handguns
Lopez used a .45-caliber Smith & Wesson in the attack. Semi-automatic handguns are the weapon of choice for most mass shooters. It remains unclear how many shots Lopez fired or what type of ammunition device he used, but given his military background and the casualty count, it's more likely than not that he used a high-capacity magazine.
As our study showed, the vast majority of mass shooters were men, ranging from young adult to middle-aged. Their average age was 35. Lopez was 34.
Murder-suicide cases
Just as Lopez did on Wednesday at Fort Hood, killers in 36 past cases ended their attacks by shooting themselves to death. Seven others died in police shootouts they had little hope of surviving, a.k.a. "suicide by cop." Lopez's case appears to be at the intersection of these factors: He shot himself in the head when confronted by a military police officer. (All five of the mass shooters in 2013 were shot and killed by law enforcement officers responding to the attacks.)
the haunting repeat of such gun violence at Fort Hood means that in the days ahead there will be intense scrutiny on security protocols at the sprawling military site, including what has or hasn't changed since 2009. But in terms of getting a handle on the perpetrator and the crime, investigators already have a lot to go on from scores of cases all over the country.
For much more of our reporting on mass shootings, gun violence and gun laws, see our full special reports: America Under the Gun and Newtown: One Year After.
If You Liked This, You Might Also Like...
Santa Monica Killer John Zawahri: A Familiar Profile
From his weapons to his mental-health history, he's the kind of mass shooter we've come to know all too well.More Than Half of Americans Now Have Tougher Gun Laws
Forget Congress: The real action after Newtown was in 40 states, from assault weapon bans to "volunteer emergency security forces" for K-12 schools.Fort Hood Victims Suing The US Government Over Shooting Rampage
The plaintiffs will certainly have plenty of material in the public record to make their case that the government was at fault.Internal Documents Reveal How the FBI Blew Fort Hood
Nearly a year before the massacre, the bureau intercepted emails between Nidal Hasan and radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki that officials called "fairly benign." They are anything but.At Least 194 Children Have Been Shot to Death Since Newtown
The NRA says arming more adults will protect kids—but most are killed at home, our investigation shows, often with unsecured guns.A Guide to Mass Shootings in America
There have been at least 67 in the last three decades—and most of the killers got their guns legally.
| Updated: Wed April 2, 2014, 11:55 PM EDTUpdate (4/2/2014): A gunman went on a rampage at Fort Hood, Texas—the site of a mass shooting in November 2009—killing 3 people and injuring 16 others before taking his own life, according to the Associated Press.
It is perhaps too easy to forget how many times this has happened. The horrific mass murder at a movie theater in Colorado in July 2012, another at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin that August, another at a manufacturer in Minneapolis that September—and then the unthinkable nightmare at a Connecticut elementary school that December—were some of the latest in an epidemic of such gun violence over the last three decades. Since 1982, there have been at least 67 mass shootings across the country, with the killings unfolding in 30 states from Massachusetts to Hawaii. Thirty of these mass shootings have occurred since 2006. Seven of them took place in 2012, and another five occurred in 2013, including in Santa Monica, California, and at the Washington Navy Yard. We've gathered detailed data on the cases and mapped them below, including information on the shooters' profiles, the types of weapons they used, and the number of victims they injured and killed.*Weapons: Of the 143 guns possessed by the killers, more than three quarters were obtained legally. The arsenal included dozens of assault weapons and semi-automatic handguns with high-capacity magazines. (See charts below.) Just as Jeffrey Weise used a .40-caliber Glock to slaughter students in Red Lake, Minnesota, in 2005, so too did James Holmes, along with an AR-15 assault rifle, when blasting away at his victims in a darkened movie theater. In Newtown, Connecticut, Adam Lanza wielded a .223 Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle as he massacred 20 school children and six adults.
The killers: More than half of the cases involved school or workplace shootings (12 and 20, respectively); the other 30 cases took place in locations including shopping malls, restaurants, and religious and government buildings. Forty four of the killers were white males. Only one of them was a woman. (See Goleta, Calif., in 2006.) The average age of the killers was 35, though the youngest among them was a mere 11 years old. (See Jonesboro, Ark., in 1998.) A majority were mentally troubled—and many displayed signs of it before setting out to kill. Explore the map for further details—we do not consider it to be all-inclusive, but based on the criteria we used we believe that we've produced the most comprehensive rundown available on this particular type of violence. (Mass shootings represent only a sliver of America's overall gun violence.) For a timeline listing all the cases on the map, including photos of the killers, jump to page 2. For the stories of the 151 shooting rampage victims of 2012, click here, and for all of MoJo's year-long investigation into gun laws and mass shootings, click here.
Hover over the dots or use the search tool in the top-left corner of the map to go to a specific location. (Zoom in to see the Aurora shooting, located close to other massacres in Colorado, and to see other proximate shootings in Milwaukee, Seattle, and elsewhere.)
Sources: Research by Mother Jones. (With thanks to the Associated Press, Canada.com, and Citizens Crime Commission of NYC.)Our focus is on public mass shootings in which the motive appeared to be indiscriminate killing. We used the following criteria to identify cases:- The shooter took the lives of at least four people. An FBI crime classification report identifies an individual as a mass murderer—versus a spree killer or a serial killer—if he kills four or more people in a single incident (not including himself), typically in a single location.
- The killings were carried out by a lone shooter. (Except in the case of the Columbine massacre and the Westside Middle School killings, which involved two shooters.)
- The shootings occurred in a public place. (Except in the case of a party on private property in Crandon, Wisconsin, and another in Seattle, where crowds of strangers had gathered.) Crimes primarily related to gang activity, armed robbery, or domestic violence in homes are not included.
- If the shooter died or was hurt from injuries sustained during the incident, he is included in the total victim count. (But we have excluded many cases in which there were three fatalities and the shooter also died, per the above FBI criterion.)
- We included a handful of so-called "spree killings"—cases in which the killings occurred in more than one location over a short period of time, that fit the above criteria.
Here are two charts detailing the killers' weapons:
This guide was first published on July 20, 2012; since then we've updated and expanded it multiple times with additional research and reporting. The analysis, map, and charts above cover the data through 2012 (comprising 62 cases); additional data and analysis on the shooters' weapons are in this story. Information from five additional mass shootings in 2013 is included in our full data set here. For much more of our reporting on mass shootings, gun violence and gun laws, see our special reports: America Under the Gun and Newtown: One Year After. (Return to intro.)First published: Fri Jul. 20, 2012 7:32 PM PDT.
Interactive production by Tasneem Raja and Jaeah Lee
Image: Clockwise from upper left: Wade Michael Page: Anti-Defamation League; James E. Holmes: Arapahoe County Sheriff's Dept./Zuma; Seung-Hui Cho: Virginia Tech University/Wikimedia; Jared Loughner: Pima County Sheriff's Office/Wikimedia
Here is a timeline of 62 mass shootings in the United States, from 1982 through 2012. For further details and our interactive map locating all of these cases, click here.If You Liked This, You Might Also Like...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map?page=2
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