On Wednesday, CNN reported that the guns Garland attackers Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi used were “bought legally,” which means they were acquired through background checks.
This makes Simpson and Soofi the latest in a long line of high-profile attackers who have acquired their firearms via background checks.
But because it is easy for an isolated example here or there to pass us by without making an impact, Breitbart News has compiled a list of some of the other high profile attackers who got their guns via background checks or who legally possessed their guns at the time they attacked. Additionally, we have compiled the number of persons they killed, the names of those persons, and the number of the persons they injured.
The goal is to press upon readers one simple fact — background checks do not stop persons with criminal intent but no criminal record. They never have stopped such persons and they never will. Background checks became the law of the land in the 1990s with promises of safety. In reality, however, they have just been one more step that high-profile killers take before savagely attacking innocents:
1. Jared and Amanda Miller (Las Vegas, June 8, 2014) – Passed background checks for their guns, then used them to kill police officers Igor Soldo and Alyn Beck. They also killed concealed carry permit holder Joseph Robert Wilcox as he tried to intervene.
2. Aaron Ybarra (Seattle Pacific University, June 5, 2014) – Used gun he legally possessed to shot and kill 19-year-old Paul Lee, and to wound 19-year-old Sarah Williams and 24-year-old Thomas Fowler. The Seattle Times reported, “Ybarra and the weapons were perfectly legal in Washington state.”
3. Elliot Rodger (Santa Barbara, May 23, 2014) – Passed background checks for his guns, registered them with the state of California, and obeyed the 10-round magazine capacity limit in CA. He then used a handgun to shoot and kill Veronika Weiss, Katherine Cooper, and Christopher Michael Martinez. He also stabbed 20-year-old Weihan Wang, 20-year-old Cheng Yuan Hong, and 19-year-old George Chen to death. The Guardian reports he wounded 14 others.
4. Ivan Lopez (Fort Hood, April 2, 2014) – Passed background check for his gun then used it to open fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas. The Washington Post reported that he killed Sgt. 1st Class Danny Ferguson, Sgt. Timothy Owens, and Staff Sgt. Carlos Lazaney-Rodriguez, and wounded 16 others.
5. Darion Marcus Aguilar (Maryland mall, January 25, 2014) – Passed background check for a shotgun then used it to kill 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo and 25-year-old Tyler Johnson.
6. Karl Halverson Pierson (Arapahoe High School, December 13, 2013) – Passed background check for a shotgun he then brought into Arapahoe High. He shot fellow student Claire Davis, who later died.
7. Paul Ciancia (LAX, November 1, 2013) – Passed background check for rifle then used it to kill transportation officer Gerardo I. Hernandez inside LAX.
8. Aaron Alexis (DC Navy Yard, September 16, 2013) – Passed background check for shotgun then used it to attack and kill 12 at the DC Navy Yard. WSB-TV reported those 12 included 59-year-old Michael Arnold, 53-year-old Sylvia Frasier, 62-year-old Kathy Gaarde, 73-year-old John Roger Johnson, 50-year-old Frank Kohler, 46-year-old Kenneth Bernard Proctor, and 61-year-old Vishnu Pandit. The Washington Post reported that Alexis wounded 8 others.
9. James Holmes (Aurora theater, July 20, 2012) – Passed background check for his rifle then used it to attack movie goers as they viewed a screening of “The Dark Knight.” He killed 12 innocents. Fox News reported their names as 26-year-old Jonathon Blunk, 18-year-old Alexander Boik, 29-year-old Jessie Childress, 51-year-old Gordon Cowden, 24-year-old Jessica Ghawi, 27-year-old John Larimer, 27-year-old Matt McQuinn, 23-year-old Micayla Medek, 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 27-year-old Alex Sullivan, 24-year-old Alexander Teves, and 32-year-old Rebecca Wingo. 70 additional persons were listed as injured.
10. Jared Loughner (Tucson, January 8, 2011) – Passed background check for a handgun he then used to open fire in a Safeway Parking lot while then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was visiting with constituents. He killed 6 persons and wounded 13 others, including Giffords. CNN listed the names of the deceased: 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, 76-year-old Dorothy Morris, 63-year-old Judge John Roll, 79-year-old Phyllis Scheck, 76-year-old Dorwin Stoddard, and 30-year-old Gabriel “Gabe” Zimmerman.
11. Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood, November 5, 2009) – Passed background check for a handgun then used it to shoot fellow soldiers at Fort Hood. He killed 13 persons. HuffPo listed their names: 62-year-old Michael Grant Cahill, 52-year-old Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, 32-year-old Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, 56-year-old Capt. John Gaffaney, 29-year-old Spc. Frederick Greene, 22-year-old Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 29-year-old Sgt. Amy Krueger, 19-year-old Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 22-year-old Pfc. Michael Pearson, 51-year-old, Capt. Russell Seager, 21-year-old Pvt. Francheska Velez, 55-year-old Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, and 23-year-old Pfc. Kham Xiong. Hasan injured at least 30 others.
12. Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007) – Passed background for a handgun then used it to kill 32 innocents and wound 17 others. NBCNews listed those killed: Liviu Librescu, Ryan Clark, Kevin Granata, Juan Ramon Ortiz, Ross Abdallah Alameddine, Christopher James Bishop, Brian Bluhm, Austin Cloyd, Jocelyn Couture-Nowak, Daniel Perez Cueza, Kevin Granata, Matthew Gwaltney, Caitlin Hammaren, Jeremy Herbstritt, Rachael Hill, Jarrett Lane, Matthew Le Porte, Henry Lee, G.V. Loganathan, Partahi Lombantoruan, Lauren McCain, Daniel O’Neil, Minal Panchal, Erin Peterson, Michael Pohle, Julia Pryde, Mary Read, Reema Samaha, Waleed Shaalan, Leslie Sherman, Maxine Turner, and Nicole White.
13. Naveed Haq (Seattle, July 28, 2006) – Passed background for his guns then used them to kill one and wound five. The Seattle Times reported the name of the deceased as Pamela Waechter.
In just these 13 examples, the total number killed was 90. The total number of wounded was approximately 173. All by persons who passed background checks to acquire their firearms.
Yet as recently as Monday, Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly told Oregonians that requiring background checks is “the responsible thing” to do. And on April 20, a defiant Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) stood by his failed 2013 background check push by saying the push for background checks “made sense” in 2013 and “it makes sense now.”
Think about it–90 dead, approximately 173 injured. How does that make sense?
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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