Posts Tagged ‘Carolyn McCarthy’

Since the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012, where James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 58 more, many have expressed shock at the ease with which the gunman acquired his arsenal: a military-style assault rifle, a shotgun, two handguns, a 100-round ammunition magazine, and 6,000 rounds of ammunition.

While the shooter purchased his firearms legally at local gun stores, he ordered his ammunition cache – 3,000 rounds each of handgun and rifle ammunition and 350 shotgun shells, as well as the 100-round magazine – from online retailers over the course of several months prior to the shooting. This ammunition, which was also purchased legally, cost him around $3,000.¹

In the aftermath of the Aurora shooting, important questions are being asked about the availability of ammunition, both over the counter and online. While America’s federal gun laws are weak, laws regulating the sale of ammunition are virtually nonexistent. As the facts below reveal, it is far too easy for dangerous people – including convicted criminals – to acquire as much ammunition as they desire. Serious reforms are desperately needed.

Federal Laws Regulating Ammunition Sales Are Weak

Federal law prohibits convicted felons and other dangerous people from acquiring both guns and ammunition, but the laws otherwise treat guns and ammunition very differently. Under federal law, a prospective gun purchaser must pass a background check; no background check is required to buy ammunition. A firearms dealer must keep a record of the sale of a firearm that includes the purchaser’s information; no records are kept for the sale of ammunition.

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1. Jack Healy, Suspect Bought Large Stockpile of Rounds Online, N.Y. Times, July 26, 2012. [↩]

This is our biggest event of the year and I really hope you can make it. 

I became a member of LCPGV staff in January of 2011, so last year was my first chance to attend one of LCPGV’s Anniversary Dinners. I came away feeling struck by the critical need for our work and inspired by the impact LCPGV has in making us all safer from gun violence. What’s more, all of the attendees I spoke to afterwards told me that they felt the same way.

I’ve since learned that for many of you, our Anniversary Dinner is an event that you’ve come to know as a special night of the year when you get to share with good friends and colleagues your passion for gun violence prevention.

You’ve told me that this event makes you feel proud to be a part of this community, invigorated to get involved, and so grateful LCPGV is doing this important work.

I sincerely hope you will come and be a part of this meaningful event.  

 - Cari Napoles, LCPGV Director of Development  READ MORE »