Massacre fuels call for action on gun deaths
SALT LAKE CITY — For the second time in less than a week, a 21-year-old man used a gun purchased legally in the United States to massacre people simply working or visiting a business. The mass shootings in Colorado and Georgia are giving new urgency to state efforts to enact gun restrictions, even while showing how hard it can be to prevent a tragedy.
A gunman opened fire Monday at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, with a weapon that resembles an AR-15 rifle, killing 10 people before he was captured. He bought the Ruger AR-556 pistol on March 16, the same day another 21-year-old man on the other side of the country killed eight people, six of them women of Asian descent, at Atlanta-area massage businesses.
President Joe Biden called for action on gun reform after the two mass shootings, and U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, who represents Boulder, asked Biden to ban imported semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. But legislation in Congress faces an uphill climb, and it’s been more than two decades since any major federal gun control laws have passed.
That means most significant gun legislation has been left to the states, including Colorado, where lawmakers have passed gun control laws in recent years. But the suspect in the supermarket shooting, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, still could legally buy a firearm, keep it despite concerns about his mental state and open fire in a town that had tried to ban assault-style weapons .
That’s led to calls for stronger action from the state, and Democratic leaders are listening. Still, support for gun rights is strong in parts of Colorado, and Second Amendment advocates argue new restrictions are not the answer.
Colorado has a law requiring background checks on almost all gun sales.
The suspect had a misdemeanor assault conviction from high school, but it didn’t prevent him from buying a gun from a shop near his suburban Denver home because most misdemeanors don’t block people from legal firearm purchases.
The state also has a so-called red flag law that allows families to ask a judge to remove guns from people who could be dangerous. Alissa’s family had concerns about his mental health and a sister-in-law had seen him with the weapon, police said.
But the law requires evidence that a person poses a significant risk in the near future. It’s unclear whether anyone close to him was concerned enough to begin the court process in the six days between the gun purchase and the shooting.