On the last day of the Gilroy Garlic Festival two assailants cut through a security fence and with a blazing gun, started shooting. Three victims are deceased, 15 are injured, one gunman is dead, and a manhunt is underway for the other suspect. Of course, the gun grabbing pundits spout gibberish about “common sense gun control.”
The police neutralized one gunman in under a minute. The rapid response by Law Enforcement saved lives, and indicates they were well staffed for maximum protection. Good guys with guns stopped a bad guy with a gun.
A one minute response time wasn’t fast enough to beat the “We Demand Sensible Gun Laws” crowd from bombarding twitter in response to the incident. Moms Demand Action founder came in hot with her opinion ~
Pundits and anchors: Please don’t speculate about the possible causes of gun violence in America. It’s not mental illness. It’s not video games. It’s not polarization.
IT. IS. EASY. ACCESS. TO. GUNS.
The data is there. Please use it: https://t.co/iZQrSleARN
Gilroy, California
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) July 29, 2019
California has some of the most restrictive firearms laws in the country. So restrictive that ammunition purchase is regulated. Santa Clara County has one of the lowest Concealed Carry ratio’s in the state. 0.1 CCW issued per 1,000 residents. The grand total for a population of 1,956,597 is 113. “Easy access to guns” and California are not synonymous. But facts don’t stop the narrative of the true believers.
Or politicians who want to be President. Kamala “Day one-o-one I take your gun” Harris immediately jumped on Twitter with this gem of insight,
Grateful to first responders who are on the scene in Gilroy and keeping those injured by such senseless violence in my thoughts. My office is closely monitoring the situation. https://t.co/dXoEvP1cqB
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) July 29, 2019
Her restrained rambling is a far cry from her stump speeches,
“Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress 100 days to get their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws. And if they fail to do it, then I will take executive action,”
In fact, it looks like she’s trying to play the center ahead of the next debate.
There is no denying the fact that the events in Gilroy are horrific, and tragic. But they don’t rise to the level that requires complete overhaul of Second Amendment, or adding restrictive measures to people who lawfully own firearms. Name a single “sensible gun law” that would have prevented this event? Registration? No. Mental Health evaluation? Unlikely, but we will learn more about the assailant. “Gun Show loophole”? Excuse me while I laugh at that non-existent pathway to easy firearm ownership. Age restrictions? Already in place. Eliminate the mislabeled “Assault” Rifle? No.
Frankly, a scary looking Mossberg 590 shotgun is far more effective for maximum injury in a close-range crowded setting.
fighting shotguns, they are probably the most-effective personal firearm for close-range defense work. While it lacks the concealability and portability of the handgun or the range and accuracy of a rifle, the shotgun is nonetheless effective within its range.”
The odds of being killed by a person wielding a firearm are 1/315 … of being killed in a mass shooting, 1/11,125. Put down that smoked pulled pork sandwich because the odds of a heart attack (1/6) or cancer (1/7) are far more likely to kill you. But, a lifestyle and diet don’t raise the same alarm as a big scary “Automatic Rifle.” Sorry, I know “AR” is abbreviation for the ArmaLite Rifle, but I couldn’t resist going “Full Semi-Auto” with the annoying misnomer.
These assailants circumvented controlled entry points by cutting through a fence. Their intention was to gain entry and cause damage. No law or rule was going to hinder their goal to kill innocent people. They could have cut through the fence, and used any number of methods to inflict injury and death. We’ve seen it happen all over the world. Pipe bombs, IED’s, vehicles… recently in Japan a man wielding a knife killed two and injured 16. People with bad intentions will carry out those intentions regardless of restrictions.
Murder is illegal. Still happens. Drunk Driving, illegal. Kills over 10,000 people annually. One person every 48 minutes. Does the parent who answers the door to the teary eyed police officer feel the Drunk Driving induced loss of their child is any less painful than the one who was shot? No. Nobody is yelling that cars should be banned or restricted. Yes a license is required to buy one, but there is that pesky private seller loophole. No license required. The commonality to these tragic events is people. Despite the all time high of 1,429,247 abortions (1990), we have yet to eliminate the undeniably common thread to homicide.
It’s not cars. It’s not booze. It’s not guns.
It is us.
Everything else is a method of the crime. A tool used by a human to inflict harm to another human. Take away the gun and the tool is a knife. Take away the knife, and it’s a brick.
The events at Gilroy are undeniably horrific and painful, they are not a reason to restrict the rights of gun ownership. I’m not a gun nut, though I do like to shoot them. I’m a responsible gun owner, who places a priority on keeping my firearms out of the unsupervised hands of my kids. A responsible owner who had a certified Range Safety Officer, and a Retired Sheriff provide hands-on firearm experience for those kids. Kids who have their own gun range cards, after having passed the range safety class.
But as Marta Hernandez points out in her post about the misleading media, it’s going to be about guns. Not the human that used the gun as a tool of destruction. But the horrible gun that caused all the damage.
The shooter has been identified as Santino William Legan. Possibly 19 years old, of Italian and Iranian heritage. According to Heavy.com
Legan also shared his views that include fringe white supremacist book written in 1890. Called “…one of the most incendiary works ever to be published anywhere,” by a noted anarchist, Legan quoted from the book in a post accompanied by a Smokey the Bear sign about fire danger. He wrote: “Read Might Is Right by Ragnar Redbeard. Why overcrowd towns and pave more open space to make room for hordes of mestizos and Silicon Valley white twats?”
The White Supremacist angle seems preemptive in light of the attributed Instagram post referencing “Silicon Valley white twats.” White Supremacist types typically share a verbal vomit of propaganda imagery, and would likely capitalize the “W” in white.
Heavy relies on an Instagram page attributed to the shooter, and additionally cites that the Grandfather is a now deceased local politician.
Legan’s grandfather was Tom Legan, a West Point graduate who died in May of 2018. According to his obituary, The elder Legan served as a “captain in Korea as a Nuclear Weapons Officer and completed his military service in Germany. As a civilian, Tom was Western Regional Marketing Director for Kaiser Cement and was thereafter appointed and then elected as Santa Clara County Supervisor for two terms.”
In 1988, he was acquitted by a jury of the alleged rape of his eldest daughter. The Los Angeles Times reported that he was “found innocent Friday of three counts of molesting his elder daughter in 1982.” Legan was seeking re-election at the time.”
Update as more information becomes available.
Featured Image: Black Garlic License: CC BY 2.0
Q: “Name a single “sensible gun law” that would have prevented this event?”
A: “Shall issue.” Better yet, Constitutional Carry.
GWB says: It likely would not have prevented* it. It might have shortened it by a few dozen seconds more, though.
And, of course, understanding you can’t prevent all the tragedies is the hallmark of someone who understands life and humanity.
(* I’m guessing this was not some sort of “I’m mad at the world and want to show them all” event. They cut through a fence. I’m guessing a gang rivalry – think the first few episodes of Sons of Anarchy.)
The “question” was rhetorical, but I don’t think it would have prevented the event. In my experience, nothing will stop someone with intent to cause harm. Especially if that person is willing to die in the process. Obviously the presence of armed LEO shortened the duration of the assailant’s timeline. If the gunman was really intent on killing, versus creating an “event”, he would have found a position and used the rifle as it was designed. Targeted single shots. Modern scopes make hitting a target from a distance much easier than random spraying of bullets. A horrifying comparison is the Las Vegas shooter.
Very little about this shooter makes sense from a maximum carnage standpoint. Infiltrating a heavily protected venue, with multiple areas for egress and cover, is contrary to his choice of firearm and a large number of victims.
GWB says: If the gunman was really intent on killing
AND he knows what he’s doing. Loads of people don’t know about optics, actual effective ranges, elevation, hides, etc.
The environment demands the proper gear. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) these types seem intent on a specific firearm instead of the most effective one.
GWB says: in under a minute. The rapid response by Law Enforcement
When seconds count, the cops are only minutes tens of seconds away.
possible causes of gun violence
This shows the “moms” don’t understand the words they use. All the things they list are actual “causes” except one: access to guns. That’s a factor, but not a “cause”, as the violence is the first problem, not the fact they’re using guns.
The grand total [of CCWs] for a population of 1,956,597 is 113.
And I will bet a whole bunch of them were actually at the show – as cops. And the others dutifully left their guns elsewhere, as the show is very likely a “Gun-Free Zone”.
Name a single “sensible gun law” that would have prevented this event?
We don’t know anything about the shooter yet, so we don’t know what of the rules might have been broken or might have failed.
However, one of the things the gun controllers love to cite is neighboring states’ “lax” gun laws. If these guys bought their weapons in Nevada, expect to hear a push along those lines. (Yes, illegal to buy firearms in a state in which you don’t reside, without shipping to a home state FFL and running the background check there. Loads of folks manage at least two residences.)
The odds of being killed by a person wielding a firearm are 1/315
That denominator seems awfully low.
recently in Japan a man wielding a knife killed two and injured 16
Heck, a guy in Japan killed 33 with some matches. (That’s a CBS link, so the article has some textual problems – missing words, poor grammar.)
Nobody is yelling that cars should be banned or restricted.
No. But a small, loud number (currently drowned out by the anti-gun folks) wants to ban alcohol.
Not the human that used the gun
Yeah, going to be interesting to find out the motivation behind attacking a garlic festival.
RCPete says: In the early ’90s, I believe there were 200 CCW permits in the county. (I didn’t have one. Maybe should have, but that’s another story.) You *really* needed political connections to get one. At that time, the [redacted organization] had a friendly judge as a member, and both LEO and non-LEO people would go through him, or to the then-sheriff.
Also, the San Jose Mercury News was bound and determined to get the names of the permit holders and publish them (presumably with home addresses, phone numbers, and shoe sizes) because Reasons. I left in the early Aughts, happy never to go back there again.
My father is retired LEO. Even then the insane wickets he’s required to jump through to maintain a CA CCW are unreal. He has to return to his original issuing location to annually qualify (for him the LA Sheriff range), then he has to submit reams of paperwork to the state. The “Shall issue” versus “Will issue” language gives the local Chief/Sheriff wide discretion in whom gets a permit. Add in the ammunition requirements and it becomes burdensome to engage in a Constitutional Right.
Knife crimes are increasing. Pretty soon London will be back to allowing only balsa wood sporks. 😉 Yes, the number of “mass” knife attacks is unreal. The FBI stats are a wonderful way to shift down the argument of limiting 2A access. Homicide by firearms is listed below that caused by feet, hammers, and other unsexy methods. But facts don’t matter when guns are big and scary. The personification of firearms allows detractors to ignore the very real fact that a human is required to implement the tool. Even a UAV requires a human to set the parameters for munitions delivery. Yet the misconception persists that without firearms violence will decrease. I do know that when I’m driving alone, I like my little buddy nearby. No quarter given if my family is at risk. I won’t make the decision to incite violence, but I will certainly make that my first option if forced into a position where survival is at stake.
Scott says: “They cut through a fence. I’m guessing a gang rivalry “… Gangs, drugs, or terrorism would be my top three guesses..
” And the others dutifully left their guns elsewhere, as the show is very likely a “Gun-Free Zone”.
Name a single “sensible gun law” that would have prevented this event?”…I think you covered it right there, though a little out of order. a SENSIBLE gun law would be to DO AWAY with “gun free zones”
“Nobody is yelling that cars should be banned or restricted.
No. But a small, loud number (currently drowned out by the anti-gun folks) wants to ban alcohol.”.. Yep, these would be the poo flinging screeching howler monkeys that have so little understanding of history as to not realize that this has been tried before, and while it did little to nothing to stop alcohol consumption, it did contribute greatly to the rise of organized crime, political corruption, and made a number of “enterprising” individuals incredibly rich..(Think Joe Kennedy)..
As always, no matter how much whiny moms, or any other group says otherwise, their screeching is NOT about guns, it is about CONTROL!
GWB says: a SENSIBLE gun law would be to DO AWAY with “gun free zones”
Somebody’s been paying attention! 😉
Scott says: “The odds of being killed by a person wielding a firearm are 1/315
That denominator seems awfully low.”…. A quick read of the linked article shows that it also includes the statement, in an article written in Oct 2018, that since Jan 2018, 300 mass shootings had occurred in the US.
This shows a severe distortion of the numbers in order to support gun control, and the table that the actual 1/315 came from was not FBI stats, but some other gun control front agencies. Good post overall Narcissi, but bad choice of citations for those numbers.
I agree the stat seemed really off. One of the hardest parts of compiling firearms data is the reporting discrepancies between various agencies. States have no standardized system for compiling their data, and it leaves a lot of room for “objectified” data. A great example is “Mass Shootings”, commonly defined as 4 or more victims for a “mass” event. If a gunman kills 4 people in a drive-by it’s touted as a “mass” event. It ticks the boxes, but doesn’t actually jive with the perception.In fact, there is NO definition for a “Mass Shooting”, as reported by the RAND (https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/essays/mass-shootings.html) Another example is the “school shooting” narrative. ANY firearms even on a school is shared as a “school shooting.” Even if the school is abandoned, or completely empty. I agree it helps increase the numbers in favor of gun restriction outlets. Everytown is notorious for skewing the data in favor of their objective. Unfortunately, the compilation sources are limited and even those have their issues. I typically use the FBI database. However it also is susceptible to nuance.
Thanks for your reply. 🙂
Scott says: Spot on Narcissi, and my comment was definitely not intended as a slam on you, most of the “data” uot there is compiled by leftists with an agenda, so I agree it is very hard to get anything resembling the truth.
No worries. I understood but wanted to clarify the difficulty in citing unbiased sources.
Slow Joe Crow says: Blaming guns is easier than admitting the failures of political leadership and social policy that has created such a trigger happy society.
Screaming and waving bloody shirts deflects attention from the logical fallacy of blaming other states for California or Chicago’s failure.
Jim says: ”Criminals Don’t Care About Gun Laws”
We in Australia have had very tight gun laws since 1996. If I want to buy a firearm I have to have a clean criminal record to obtain a Licence, apply to a central registry for a ‘Permit to Acquire’ the firearm I wish to buy and then have to demonstrate a specific need, i.e. hunting. There are firearms I am not allowed to buy as I am not a professional hunter or in security. Every time I buy ammunition from either of the two gun stores in town whose staff know me well I am required to show my shooters licence. For all that there is increasing concern in my home state about the mostly young hooligans, generally of middle Eastern extraction and members of family-based gangs, who are regularly shooting each other with unregistered handguns that are likely imported illegally. ‘Criminals Don’t Care About Gun Laws’ and the current socialist left government doesn’t know what to do about it, while the Green extremists want all private firearm ownership banned because of the few thugs who will never obey the Law – that’s why they are called criminals.
I love your country, primarily because of the citizens. Your government… agh. I love a good long flight down to an amazing country. But I hate that I have to leave two of my favorite things at home. My firearms, and my Fila Mastiff dog. Neither is legal in Oz. Hang tight, and I hope this slide stops before it becomes criminal to protect your family and property from… a criminal.
Drew458 says: As a CA resident, this guy wasn’t old enough to own any kind of firearm. Nor was it legal for him to purchase one in Nevada, even as a person to person sale, nor was it legal for him to transport the weapon back into CA if someone had given it to him. I don’t think purchasing ammo out of state, or possessing it if you are under age, is legal there either.
So before he even pulled the trigger, multiple laws were broken. Fat lot of good that did.
Now let’s see the coroner’s lab report along with his psych history … once again it’s a sure bet that he was on meds or had just come off them.
GWB says: Given the update’s focus on the dead assailant, is there anything more about the supposed second assailant? Was there one? Did they misspeak? Is there a good source for information?
GWB says: Sarah Silverman’s another one spouting off about all the gun laws we’re refusing to enact and this is the reslut.
Oy.
Scott says: “Sarah Silverman’s another one spouting off about all the gun laws we’re refusing to enact and this is the reslut.”
Alright GWB, now that i spewed my sweet tea, was that a typo, or a Freudian slip?
GWB says: ROFL
I *think* it was a typo! 🙂
GWB says: Damnit, and now El Paso.
Details are still up in the air, but a dozen or dozen and a half dead.
GWB says: Where in Cincinnati?! I don’t even see that one on Drudge.
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