Good morning, Bulletin readers. Investigators are probing whether the Saugus High School shooter used a homemade “ghost gun” to kill two classmates and wound three others last week. That and more in your Monday roundup.
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WHAT TO KNOW TODAY
Latest mass shootings leave California reeling. About three dozen people were watching NFL football last night at a home in Fresno when unknown assailants entered the backyard and opened fire, killing four men and injuring six other people. On Saturday in San Diego, a 31-year-old man fatally shot his wife and young sons, ages 3, 5, and 11, in their residence. A fourth child is in critical condition.
Police are investigating whether the Santa Clarita shooter used a ghost gun. Authorities are looking into the possibility that the shooter, who succumbed to a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Friday, assembled the .45-caliber handgun he used from parts purchased separately, law enforcement officials told The Los Angeles Times. As a 16-year-old, the gunman could not legally own firearms in California. In May, The Trace’s Alain Stephens reported that nearly a third of crime guns recovered in California are homemade, unserialized, and untraceable.
Portraits of the Saugus High victims emerged. Gracie Anne Muehlberger, 15, was a “lover of all things fashionable,” according to a GoFundMe set up by her family. The assistant coach of her cheerleading squad said she was always encouraging her teammates. Another friend said she was particularly concerned with mental health after recently helping a friend through depression. Dominic Blackwell, 14, was a football player who was “always smiling and laughing,” a teammate said. “It’s so unfair.”
NRA leader Wayne LaPierre got a 57 percent pay raise in 2018. The Washington Post reports that the bump raised his total compensation to $2.15 million. LaPierre’s fiduciary performance has been under scrutiny since details of his lavish business spending and extensive self-dealing by National Rifle Association insiders were brought to light by reporters at The Trace and other outlets. On Friday, Will Van Sant reported that the NRA asked a judge to seal references made about LaPierre’s September deposition after the gun group’s former PR firm characterized his testimony as contradicting the organization’s legal claims.
“60 Minutes” explored the “Second Amendment Sanctuary” movement. The CBS television newsmagazine interviewed several Colorado sheriffs who are refusing to enforce their state’s new red flaw law when it goes into effect in 2020. The show also heard from a sheriff who believes risk-protection orders who might have saved one of his deputies, who was killed in a shootout with a heavily armed man struggling with mental illness.
A new bill in Congress would require banks to report suspicious gun-related activity. The Gun Violence Prevention Through Financial Intelligence Act would require banks to develop systems for reporting suspicious gun transactions to the federal government. The bill was inspired by a New York Times report from 2018 about how several mass shooters used credit cards to finance their rampages.
Two kids were shot at a high school football game in New Jersey. A 10-year old boy was critically wounded and a 15-year-old boy and a 27-year-old man were injured when someone opened fire at a Pleasantville High School football game on Friday night. Five people were arrested in connection with the incident.
DATA POINT
More than 233,000 students have been exposed to gun violence at their schools since the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine. —Washington Post
