Here is why we need to regularly audit all public institutions:
What do we know about the ATF? Media reports have confirmed there were ATF agents working undercover at Jan. 6th… but what about their agency? Is it safe? Do they protect the weapons they take from Americans- because that is their job- and they are not doing well.
There were also 20 FBI/ATF agents confirmed to be working undercover on J6, according to court documents. I don't think they were there tailgating during the riot.
Here is how we know they are not doing it well:
A new explosive OIG report shows that the government workers in Washington DC are a clown show and also a serious disaster for our safety. While the tyrants in DC talk about stealing guns out of the hands of law-abiding Americans- for self-defense- they are also getting paid to safeguard gun and ammo stockpiles, which they have allowed to be stolen by the bus load.
Check this out from a September 2022 audit of the ATF:
“The OIG undertook this audit following the discovery that thousands of firearms, firearm parts and ammunition had been stolen from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) National Destruction Branch (NDB) facility in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Our audit objectives were to: (1) assess the adequacy of the
ATF’s controls over firearms approved for disposal, and (2) evaluate the ATF’s processes for ensuring all firearms sent to its disposal facility are ultimately destroyed. This audit covers the ATF’s firearm disposal practices at its NDB facility from March 2019 through April 2022.”
From the report, here is what caused the audit:
“Since September 2015, the NDB has been responsible for disposing of thousands of ATF-owned firearms and
firearms seized for forfeiture each year by the ATF and other Department law enforcement agencies. In August 2019, a former contract security guard stationed at the ATF facility in Martinsburg was sentenced to 14 years in prison for stealing thousands of firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition from the NDB facility from 2016 to 2019.
The events that led to this conviction triggered two internal ATF inspections of the NDB facility and an OIG investigation that resulted in the identification of several vulnerabilities that enabled the thefts to occur undetected, as well as recommendations for corrective action by the ATF’s internal inspection groups.”
Here is what the auditor found was the problem:
“We found that NDB staff does not consistently adhere to established operating procedures in place to mitigate risk of firearms being lost or stolen. Specifically, we observed NDB staff: (1) propping open doors into secure areas of the facility solely for the sake of convenience, (2) allowing visitors to enter the facility through doorways other than the main entrance and drive their cars into the facility to unload firearms, and (3) permitting unauthorized individuals to access NDB vault storage spaces.
Failure to strictly adhere to established operating procedures not only undermines the NDB’s security protocol, but unnecessarily places firearms in NDB custody at risk of loss or theft.”
Here is how they got away with being reckless criminals with it before the audit:
“We identified blind spots in the NDB’s surveillance camera coverage of both the interior and exterior areas of the facility that could be exploited by an individual seeking to conceal illicit activity. We also found that the low resolution of some of the surveillance video does not allow the viewer to identify individuals or discern activities conducted within certain secure areas of the facility. In
addition, we found that 1 of the 13 cameras covering the facility was not functioning. This issue went unnoticed until we pointed it out to the ATF’s Physical Security Programs Branch, indicating that the ATF is not regularly inspecting surveillance cameras at the NDB to ensure they are functioning”
So while the ATF is busy harassing Americans, they are literally letting guns go right out the front door and into the hands of criminals.
Check out what Markwayne Mullin reported, along with Republicans who are watching the ATF:
Credit card companies are now taking steps to track lawful firearm purchases by law-abiding citizens. The information they will collect is already on file with the ATF. This serves no purpose other than to chill the exercise of our fundamental 2A rights. https://t.co/s65vgcy3rp
A Delaware man’s home security camera captured the moment two ATF agents and a Delaware State Police trooper showed up at his house to verify he still had possession of firearms he had recently purchased.
The homeowner provided footage of the incident to Armed American News (AAN), which published the videos on Monday.
When the officers arrived at the Delaware man’s door, he asked how he could help them and learned the trio was assigned to a task force investigating potential straw purchases.
A straw purchase is when a person knowingly buys a gun for an individual who is not allowed to obtain one.
The man being questioned by the federal agency told AAN he had bought seven guns since January 2022.
One agent told the citizen the ATF had to check on him because he purchased more than two firearms, adding, “You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“All I’m doing is verifying that you have it, you got two different purchases,” he said, pointing to a paper document apparently showing proof of purchase. “If you have them, I’m out of here. That’s how quick it is. Do you have them with you by any chance?”
When the homeowner told the three armed men his guns were in his safe, the lead ATF agent asked him to “unload them and bring them out.”
Continuing, the agent said, “There’s an email from the federal side saying, ‘Can you make sure this guy’s got his guns?’ If you recently purchased a whole bunch of guns, if we can look at them and just scratch them off.”
Another agent told the homeowner if he’d just let them check the serial numbers on his recently purchased guns, they wouldn’t have “to come back.”
According to the man who was hassled by the federal agency, he got one rifle out of his safe and let the officers inspect its serial number.
After asking if he had to get the rest of his weapons out of the safe, the agents told the man it wouldn’t be necessary and went on their way.
In retrospect, the homeowner feels he was bullied into giving his consent for the property search and is “embarrassed.”
“My neighbors saw the whole thing – guys in these police vests standing in my yard,” he explained. “I was really uncomfortable. I felt really confused, like I was in some way being accused of something even though I didn’t commit a crime. It was quite embarrassing. I knew they couldn’t come in, but I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to get put on some watch list. We just got new gun laws here. I didn’t want them coming back again. I felt like they were invading my privacy.”
According to AAN, “The only insight into ATF’s surprise home inspections was in a Washington Post story published July 22, 2021, in which Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Biden-Harris administration was targeting straw purchasers.”
The corrupt federal agency is disrespecting the U.S. Constitution by deliberately disobeying the Fourth Amendment’s stance against unwarranted searches and seizures.
June 23, 2022 at 03:49PM BREAKING: The Supreme court decides on the case between gun owners and New York State.
We reported on The Pete Santilli Show that the Supreme Court would likely rule on numerous cases within the next few days. We were right.
The Supreme court decided against New York’s law that includes strict rules for concealed carry in the state. Prior to this ruling, the state could decide who it wanted to have this right and who it didn’t. We reported on this case moments ago:
New York requires its residents to obtain a license for lawful possession of a firearm, regardless of whether they plan to keep it at home or take it outside. To obtain a license, a licensing officer must determine whether the applicant is of good moral character, lacks a history of crime or mental illness, and that “no good cause exists for the denial of the license.”
Applicants must also have “proper cause” to lawfully conceal carry a handgun—openly carrying a handgun is entirely banned. New York law leaves “proper cause” undefined, but courts have clarified that this standard means one must “demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community or of persons engaged in the same profession.”
Merely having the “generalized desire” to conceal carry, according to the courts, “does not constitute ‘proper cause.’”
The justices’ 6-3 decision is expected to ultimately allow more people to legally carry guns on the streets of the nation’s largest cities – including New York, Los Angeles and Boston – and elsewhere. About a quarter of the U.S. population lives in states expected to be affected by the ruling, the high court’s first major gun decision in more than a decade.
The ruling comes as Congress is actively working on gun legislation following recent mass shootings in Texas,New York and California.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority that the Constitution protects “an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.”
In their decision, the justices struck down a New York law requiring people to demonstrate a particular need for carrying a gun in order to get a license to carry one in public. The justices said the requirement violates the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms.”
via The Gateway Pundit
“This decision isn’t just reckless—it’s reprehensible.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul decries Supreme Court decision striking down New York gun law, calling it “frightful in its scope of how they are setting back this nation and our ability to protect our citizens.” https://t.co/VzW5hlXLn6pic.twitter.com/2yt77wrc9q
Video: BBC Reporter To MSNBC – U.S. Should Just Ban All Guns
Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, a BBC reporter appeared completely confounded as to why the U.S. government hasn’t just banned guns altogether like the UK did in the 1990s.
BBC reporter Katty Kay, who was brought on to talk about the Queen’s Jubilee, was used by Joe Scarborough to hammer home the point that all the British people he knows keep asking him “what’s wrong with you Americans and your guns?”
“The contrast, and it’s between the United States and Great Britain, is so striking, considering we share so much in common,” Scarborough continued, adding “But in this one area, it’s just — the difference is just shocking, isn’t it?”
Kay agreed, adding “this is making it very hard for allies of America, friends of America, people who love this country as I do, who’ve lived here for very long, to defend the country at the moment, when every single morning, we wake up and there is another mass shooting.”
She continued, “we keep getting asked, what is going on in that country? Why can’t they fix this? In the UK, you know this, Joe, they fixed it.”
“It was a conservative government that fixed the United Kingdom’s gun problem in 1980 after a mass shooting. They banned assault weapons,” Kay proclaimed.
The reporter added that “In the 1990s, they banned handguns after one school shooting. It’s all it took, in Dunblain, Scotland, and the United Kingdom banned handguns. It now has amongst the lowest rate of gun deaths of any westernized countries.”
“No other Western country tolerates this,” Kay further declared.
Watch:
Last week Joe Biden announced an intention to bring about sweeping gun control measures, including a ban on “assault weapons” and “high capacity” magazines, as well as red flag laws, new laws on background checks and storage, and a vow to “repeal the immunity of gun manufacturers from liability.”
Biden claimed during his speech that he wasn’t taking away anyone’s rights.
———————————————————————————————————————
ALERT! In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.
We need you to sign up for our free newsletter here.
Support our sponsor – Turbo Force – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.
Also, we urgently need your financial support here. ———————————————————————————————————————
The Ohio Legislature has made it crystal clear that it wants ONE set of consistent firearm laws across the state, and it has specifically forbidden municipalities from regulating guns in any manner.
However, even though the state’s “preemption” law, spelled out in Ohio Revised Code 9.68, has been in force since March 2007 and was further strengthened in 2019, and even though the law has withstood court challenges, the City of Columbus continues to look for ways to regulate guns locally.
On February 15, 2022, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther declared gun violence a “public health crisis.” He also said this declaration was just the “first step.” While it was unclear at the time what that meant, we may now have a better idea of what Columbus officials are planning.
On May 17, 2022, during an online meeting of the Columbus Board of Health, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein and Solicitor General Rich Coglianese presented a scheme to regulate guns through health orders.
Klein bemoans that Ohio cities are unable to regulate guns because of the state’s “preemption” law, and he admits that the goal is to look for loopholes and exceptions. He also says that because Mayor Ginther has declared gun violence a “public health crisis,” they now have an opportunity to “act.”
Klein then introduces Solicitor General Rich Coglianese to explain their legal argument. According to Coglianese, there is a loophole in Ohio law which can be exploited by the Columbus Board of Health to regulate guns as a public “nuisance.”
Here are the details of the argument:
R.C. 3707.01(B) says, “The board of health of a city or general health district shall abate and remove all nuisances within its jurisdiction.” So what is a nuisance? According to Coglianese, the answer lies in a 20-year-old Ohio Supreme Court case where Cincinnati wanted to hold gun manufacturers liable for the costs of gun violence.
From the same case, he further cites the definition of “unreasonable interference” to include “… those acts that significantly interfere with public health, safety, peace, comfort, or convenience, conduct that is contrary to a statute, ordinance, or regulation, or conduct that is of a continuing nature or one which has produced a permanent or long-lasting effect upon the public right, an effect of which the actor is aware or should be aware.”
So if the city can show that guns interfere with “public health, safety, peace,” etc. and have a “permanent or long-lasting effect,” guns can be considered a nuisance and regulated under the authority of the Board of Health.
What about Ohio’s “preemption” law in R.C. 9.68 that prohibits local regulation of guns? Coglianese says there’s a loophole because the law allows cities to mirror state and federal laws where it says, “Except as specifically provided by the United States Constitution, Ohio Constitution, state law, or federal law ….”
In other words, Coglianese concludes R.C. 9.68 would actually allow a municipal board of health to enact a local law to mirror state law on the matter of abating and removing guns as a public nuisance.
Coglianese also dispenses with SB 22, a law passed last year to rein in the authority of health orders. He claims that while that law prohibits orders or regulations directed at a class of persons, it allows orders or regulations aimed at specific persons, and that gun owners could be considered “specific” rather than a class of persons. In addition, he argues that SB 22 does not mention any limitation on the regulation of items or property, such as firearms.
According to other comments during this meeting, the Columbus Board of Health, along with the city attorneys, will continue exploring this gun regulation scheme in the coming months. It seems their next step may be to collect data to demonstrate that guns interfere with “public health” and have a “permanent or long-lasting effect.” And then on that basis, empower the Board of Health to take action.
Exactly what sort of action? If I were to be generous, I might assume that they merely intend to get guns out of the hands of those who are legally disqualified from possessing them. But if that were the case, why not just enforce current law? Why look for loopholes and mount clever legal arguments?
Given the history of Columbus, it’s more likely that their intent is to enact rifle bans, magazine bans, red flag laws, waiting periods, universal background checks, and so on. And they’re likely to prohibit permitless carry as well.
Aren’t they afraid of violating state law or concerned about being sued? Not likely. They’ve flouted state law before, so they won’t be shy about doing it again. And from their point of view, who cares if they get sued? They can just use public tax dollars to litigate. It doesn’t matter if they lose, because they’re spending other people’s money.
Buckeye Firearms Association is carefully studying the legal argument. And we will continue to watch Columbus and the Board of Health closely. However, be assured that we are committed to responding to his outrageous power grab if we believe there is any chance Columbus will actually move forward.
Whether we respond with legislation or litigation remains to be seen, but one thing is sure: We will NOT sit idly if Ohio’s capital city attempts to once again exceed its authority and infringe the rights of gun owners. We can’t. Because if Columbus gets away with this audacious scheme, other cities will do the same.
And if that happens, what’s the point of having a preemption law at all? If any city can simply declare guns a public nuisance and regulate guns through their board of health, we’re back to the patchwork of laws the Ohio legislature sought to eliminate in 2007. And ALL the work we’ve done for the past two decades evaporates.
Senator Lindsey Graham Says He Is Ready to Vote on ALL Gun Control Proposals Mentioned by Joe Biden
GOP Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) on Thursday evening said he is ready to vote on ALL gun control proposals mentioned by Joe Biden.
Lindsey Graham also urged Schumer to bring the gun control proposals forward for votes.
“I stand ready to vote on ALL the proposals mentioned by President Biden tonight and encourage the Democratic Leader to bring them forward for votes.” Lindsey Graham said.
Senator Graham also added he is ready to “work across the aisle to find common ground” on gun control legislation.
Joe Biden Thursday evening delivered remarks on the recent mass shootings and called on Congress to reinstate the 1994 ‘Assault Weapons Ban.’
Biden attacked the Second Amendment – AGAIN – and said no amendment is absolute.
Joe Biden called for ‘red flag laws’ and demanded the 1994 ‘Assault Weapons Ban’ be reinstated.
“We need to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, and if we can’t ban assault weapons, then we should raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21,” said Biden.
Joe Biden also called on Congress to limit how many rounds a weapon can hold.
“We should limit how many rounds a weapon can hold. Why in God’s name should an ordinary citizen be able to purchase an assault weapon that holds 30-round magazines, that let mass shooters fire hundreds of bullets in a matter of minutes?” Biden said.
And sellout Lindsey Graham is ready to go full steam ahead on Biden’s proposals attacking the Second Amendment.
Lindsey Graham says he owns an AR-15 in case of a ‘natural disaster’ and ‘gangs’
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said on “Fox News Sunday” he would use his AR-15 to defend his home if needed, a comment that drew the ire of some gun control advocates.
“If there is a natural disaster in South Carolina where the cops can’t protect my neighborhood, my house will be the last one that the gang will come to because I can defend myself,” the South Carolina senator told the show’s host, Chris Wallace.
“If you have (an AR-15) lawfully, I think you should be allowed to keep it,” he added.
Graham admitted to owning the assault rifle after Wallace asked what was wrong with a serious debate on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.
“At the end of the day if you think an assault weapons ban is what the country needs, bring it to the floor of the United States Senate and vote on it. I welcome that debate,” Graham said.
"I own an AR-15. If there's a natural disaster in South Carolina where the cops can't protect my neighborhood, my house will be the last one that the gang will come to, because I can defend myself." — Lindsey Graham pic.twitter.com/PYTkLzvK1J
May 31, 2022 at 01:59PM (TB 108) Uvalde Commissioner Makes Stunning Admission, ‘No Idea’ Where Armed School Resource Officer Was When Shooting Started
A Uvalde, Texas, county commissioner said he does not know where the school district police officer for Robb Elementary School was during the time of last week’s shooting.
Nineteen children and two adults were killed in the incident, in which the police response has drawn scrutiny over their response time and how long it took for them to neutralize the shooter.
Speaking on the CBS show “Face the Nation,” Commissioner Ronald Garza was asked where the officer was that fateful day.
“I have no idea,” he said, according to CBS. “I’m like a lot of people. We’re still in the dark about that.”
Stop the censors, sign up to get today’s top stories delivered right to your inbox
“We’re still learning of new developments that are coming to light. But, you know, my heart goes out to the community. We’re emotionally shattered. And, you know, we’re — we’re just really sad right now. It’s a time of mourning in our community,” he said.
Garza said the school’s officer could have been at another building. Initial reports said the officer sought to confront the shooter, but that was later found to be false.
“I do know that we have multiple campuses here,” he said. “It’s — perhaps he was at another campus when, when the shooting started. But no, I, you know — he — he could have been at another campus.”
On Friday Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw said the officer was not at the building.
“That officer was not on scene, not on campus, but had heard the 911 call about the man with the gun and drove immediately to the area, sped to what he thought was the man with the gun to the back of the school and what turned out to be a teacher and not the suspect,” McCraw said then, according to the Washington Examiner.
Margaret Brennan of CBS asked Garza whether Pedro Arredondo, chief of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department, was under protection due to community anger. Arredondo was in command of the initial response.
“Well, you know, rightly so. You know, people are — are asking questions. Parents lost children. They’re devastated. And it’s — it’s — it’s just a sad situation. And I think the community deserves answers,” he said.
“What was the problem, a lack of security?” Brennan asked.
“You know, perhaps — perhaps it was a lack of security, training. You know, I think there’s multiple factors that might be involved here,” he said.
“But you know, right now, it’s easy. It’s easy to point fingers right now. It’s easy to play the blame game. But, you know, our community I think needs to focus on — on the — on the — on healing right now,” he said.
Garza said the community welcomes the federal investigation that was announced Sunday by the Department of Justice.
“I think we need to learn more. As tragic as this may seem, we need to learn from this, you know, and parents deserve answers,” he said.
Garza also said that the family of the shooter is “a family of faith. They value church; they value hard work. [I’ve] known them for many years — great grandparents, grandparents, uncles, aunts. And, you know, this should not be a reflection on them.”
“You know, we raise our children, and we try to raise them in the right way. But — but sometimes our children have different thoughts, have different attitudes, personalities, but we do the best we can,” he said.
May 26, 2022 at 06:25AM (TB103) Parents begged police for upward of 40 minutes to stop Texas school shooter: Report
Police stood by for upward of 40 minutes after a gunman stormed into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday and killed 19 children and two teachers in a classroom, according to a new report.
Investigators are piecing together what happened over the course of the massacre, which ended with a Border Patrol team rushing in and killing the 18-year-old shooter. Witnesses cited by theAssociated Press recalled shouting at police to enter the building to save the people inside. One even proposed having bystanders do the job that officers apparently refused to do as they stood outside.
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” said Javier Cazares. “More could have been done.” Cazares lost his fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn, in the attack. “They were unprepared,” he said.
The first report of an armed man approaching Robb Elementary School came around 11:30 a.m., and the gunman was killed roughly 90 minutes later, just after 1 p.m., state officials said, according to the New York Times.
Salvador Ramos has been identified by officials as the shooter who entered the school with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle. After being seen crashing his truck into a ditch outside the school and shooting at people outside a nearby funeral home, who were not injured, officials say he “encountered” a school district security officer, but it’s not clear whether they exchanged gunfire. Ramos entered the school and shot and wounded two Uvalde police officers arriving outside, according to Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Travis Considine.
Police walk near Robb Elementary School following a shooting, Tuesday, May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas.
(AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)
Between 40 minutes and an hour passed between Ramos shooting at the school security officer and him being shot and killed by a tactical Border Patrol unit, said Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw, although the exact timing remains unclear.
Ramos barricaded himself in one classroom, where officials said he shot and killed the 19 children and two teachers. A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that the Border Patrol agents had difficulty breaching the door to the classroom and were only able to enter when a staff member opened the door with a key.
The killer “barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom,” Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a television appearance, according to NBC. “It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.”
GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district includes Uvalde, told CNN what he heard in a briefing about the time it took for law enforcement to finally close in. “All of it, I understand, lasted about an hour, but this is where there’s kind of a 30-minute lull. They feel as if they’ve got him barricaded in. The rest of the students in the school are now leaving,” he said.
Raul Ortiz, chief of the Border Patrol, told CNN that more than a dozen on-duty and off-duty agents showed up to stop the shooter. “They didn’t hesitate. They came up with a plan. They entered that classroom, and they took care of the situation as quickly as they possibly could,” he said. A member of the elite Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or BORTAC, has been credited with killing the shooter. The agent sustained a wound to the head after being grazed by a bullet and was shot in the leg but has been discharged from the hospital, U.S. Customs and Border Protection sources told the Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli.
Uvalde is a town of roughly 16,000 people and is situated between San Antonio and Del Rio. The town is just dozens of miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border and has a Border Patrol station.
Officials have yet to share a motive in the roughly 36 hours since the attack, which left 17 others injured. Ramos also shot and wounded his grandmother before the school attack. The identities of the victims have begun to emerge, including fourth-grade teachers Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles.
The investigation into the shooting is being led by DPS Texas Rangers and the Uvalde Police Department and supported by DPS Highway Patrol and Criminal Investigation, DPS Aircraft and Intelligence, and DPS Crime and Victim Support, according to Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX). He said the Texas Division of Emergency Management, FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Border Patrol, San Antonio Police Department, San Antonio Fire Department, and other local law officials are “also providing resources in support of the investigation.”
Joe Biden, who said he will travel to Texas in the coming days to visit with the families of the victims, urged the country on Tuesday to “stand up to the gun lobby.” The attack is the second deadliest school shooting on record in the United States.
via Washington Examiner
May 26, 2022 at 06:19AM via AP NEWS Onlookers urged police to charge into Texas school
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team.
“Go in there! Go in there!” nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in.
Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building.
Upset that police were not moving in, he raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders.
“Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” he said. “More could have been done.”
“They were unprepared,” he added.
Minutes earlier, Carranza had watched as Salvador Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch outside the school, grabbed his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shot at two people outside a nearby funeral home who ran away uninjured.
Officials say he “encountered” a school district security officer outside the school, though there were conflicting reports from authorities on whether the men exchanged gunfire. After running inside, he fired on two arriving Uvalde police officers who were outside the building, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine. The police officers were injured.
After entering the school, Ramos charged into one classroom and began to kill.
He “barricaded himself by locking the door and just started shooting children and teachers that were inside that classroom,” Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Department of Public Safety told CNN. “It just shows you the complete evil of the shooter.”
All those killed were in the same classroom, he said.
Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told reporters that 40 minutes to an hour elapsed from when Ramos opened fire on the school security officer to when the tactical team shot him, though a department spokesman said later that they could not give a solid estimate of how long the gunman was in the school or when he was killed.
“The bottom line is law enforcement was there,” McCraw said. “They did engage immediately. They did contain (Ramos) in the classroom.”
Meanwhile, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said the Border Patrol agents had trouble breaching the classroom door and had to get a staff member to open the room with a key. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.
Carranza said the officers should have entered the school sooner.
“There were more of them. There was just one of him,” he said.
Uvalde is a largely Latino town of some 16,000 people about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from the Mexican border. Robb Elementary, which has nearly 600 students in second, third and fourth grades, is a single-story brick structure in a mostly residential neighborhood of modest homes.
Before attacking the school, Ramos shot and wounded his grandmother at the home they shared, authorities said.
Neighbor Gilbert Gallegos, 82, who lives across the street and has known the family for decades, said he was puttering in his yard when he heard the shots.
Ramos ran out the front door and across the small yard to the truck parked in front of the house. He seemed panicked, Gallegos said, and had trouble getting the truck out of park.
Then he raced away: “He spun out, I mean fast,” spraying gravel in the air.
His grandmother emerged covered in blood: “She says, ‘Berto, this is what he did. He shot me.’” She was hospitalized.
Gallegos, whose wife called 911, said he had heard no arguments before or after the shots, and knew of no history of bullying or abuse of Ramos, who he rarely saw.
Investigators also shed no light on Ramos’ motive for the attack, which also left at least 17 people wounded. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Ramos, a resident of the small town about 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of San Antonio, had no known criminal or mental health history.
“We don’t see a motive or catalyst right now,” said McCraw of the Department of Public Safety.
Ramos legally bought the rifle and a second one like it last week, just after his birthday, authorities said.
About a half-hour before the mass shooting, Ramos sent the first of three online messages warning about his plans, Abbott said.
Ramos wrote that he was going to shoot his grandmother, then that he had shot the woman. In the last note, sent about 15 minutes before he reached Robb Elementary, he said he was going to shoot up an elementary school, according to Abbott. Investigators said Ramos did not specify which school.
Ramos sent the private, one-to-one text messages via Facebook, said company spokesman Andy Stone. It was not clear who received the messages.
Grief engulfed Uvalde as the details emerged.
The dead included Eliahna Garcia, an outgoing 10-year-old who loved to sing, dance and play basketball; a fellow fourth-grader, Xavier Javier Lopez, who had been eagerly awaiting a summer of swimming; and a teacher, Eva Mireles, whose husband is an officer with the school district’s police department.
“You can just tell by their angelic smiles that they were loved,” Uvalde Schools Superintendent Hal Harrell said, fighting back tears as he recalled the children and teachers killed.
The tragedy was the latest in a seemingly unending wave of mass shootings across the U.S. in recent years. Just 10 days earlier, 10 Black people were shot to death in a racist attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.
The attack was the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012.
Amid calls for tighter restrictions on firearms, the Republican governor repeatedly talked about mental health struggles among Texas young people and argued that tougher gun laws in Chicago, New York and California are ineffective.
Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who is running against Abbott for governor, interrupted Wednesday’s news conference, calling the tragedy “predictable.” Pointing his finger at Abbott, he said: “This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen.” O’Rourke was escorted out as some in the room yelled at him. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin yelled that O’Rourke was a “sick son of a bitch.”
“I just don’t know how people can sell that type of a gun to a kid 18 years old,” Siria Arizmendi, the aunt of victim Eliahna Garcia, said angrily through tears. “What is he going to use it for but for that purpose?”
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that “the Second Amendment is not absolute” as he called for new limitations on guns in the wake of the massacre.
But the prospects for reform of the nation’s gun regulations appeared dim. Repeated attempts over the years to expand background checks and enact other curbs have run into Republican opposition in Congress.
The shooting came days before the National Rifle Association annual convention was set to begin in Houston, with the Texas governor and both of the state’s Republican U.S. senators scheduled to speak.
Dillon Silva, whose nephew was in a classroom, said students were watching the Disney movie “Moana” when they heard several loud pops and a bullet shattered a window. Moments later, their teacher saw the attacker stride past.
“Oh, my God, he has a gun!” the teacher shouted twice, according to Silva. “The teacher didn’t even have time to lock the door,” he said.
The close-knit community, built around a shaded central square, includes many families who have lived there for generations.
Lorena Auguste was substitute teaching at Uvalde High School when she heard about the shooting and began frantically texting her niece, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary. Eventually she found out the girl was OK.
But that night, her niece had a question.
“Why did they do this to us?” the girl asked. “We’re good kids. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
May 26, 2022 at 05:36AM (TB104) ‘Second Amendment Is Not Absolute’: Biden Demands More Gun Control
President Joe Biden called for stricter gun control legislation during his Wednesday address, claiming the Second Amendment allows for limitations on firearm ownership.
The president made the remarks alongside Vice President Kamala Harris in the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 children and 2 teachers. He announced his future visit to Texas alongside First Lady Jill Biden.
“As a nation, we must all be there for them. Everyone. And we must ask when in God’s name will we do what needs to be done to if not completely stop, fundamentally change the amount of the carnage that goes on in this country,” Biden said. “I’m sick and tired. I’m just sick and tired of what’s going on and continues to go on.”
He touted his push to pass “common sense gun reforms” while serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and as vice president, urging for these gun control laws to pass in order to have “a significant impact” on the number of tragedies occurring throughout the country.
“While they clearly will not prevent every tragedy, we know certain ones will have significant impact and have no negative impact on the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment is not absolute. When it was passed you couldn’t own a cannon, you couldn’t own certain kinds of weapons. There’s always been limitations. These actions we’ve taken before, they save lives and they can do it again. The idea that an 18-year-old can walk into a store and buy weapons of war designed and marketed to kill is I think just wrong. It just violates common sense.”
Biden has repeated the false claim that a cannon could not be legally purchased when the Second Amendment was ratified. He made the claim last month when he announced his administration’s new regulation that requires background checks and serial numbers for so-called “ghost guns,” which refer to firearms that are unregulated and untraceable.
He made the same claim during his 2020 presidential campaign in a push to require background checks on all gun sales and impose a ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. The Washington Post gave his claim four Pinocchios, confirming that private citizens owned cannons at the time of the nation’s founding and that there was no federal law restricting the types of guns citizens could own.
He then moved the claim to apply to 20 years after the Revolutionary War, which is incorrect, according to the Washington Post. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war and “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal,” meaning that private citizens could be granted special waivers to own warships and obtain cannons during a battle.
