SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Just days after police took the second of two escaped Virginia inmates into custody following a “massive manhunt,” a federal judge in the state ruled that a law banning gun sales to people under the age of 21 violates the Second Amendment.
Ryan Busse, a former firearms executive and senior advisor at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, joined KCBS Radio this week to discuss the import of this ruling.
For more, stream KCBS Radio now.
“So, what exactly does this ruling do as far as giving momentum to groups in other states?” asked anchor Holly Quan.
“It’s another in a long line of incidents where we have actually been lessening or weakening ban regulations across the country,” Busse said. “We now have 28 states, I think, that we now have what is called permit less concealed carry.”
He also explained that the New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen U.S. Supreme Court opinion issued last June “essentially applies the same kind of originalist reasoning to gun laws, meaning if a law didn’t exist – and Justice Clarence Thomas reasoned, basically the law didn’t exist in 1791 – then it can’t exist now.”
U.S. Senior District Judge Robert Payne issued his ruling in favor of four men who are over the age of 18 but not yet 21 Wednesday.
On Monday, Prince Edward Co. Sheriff Tony Epps said in a press release that Bruce Carroll Callahan had been arrested after escaping from Piedmont Regional Jail in Virginia. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation the other escapee, Alder Alfonso Marin Sotelo, was taken into custody by Mexican authorities May 4. Callahan was incarcerated on drug charges and Marin Sotelo was incarcerated on gun charges.
With mass shootings making headlines frequently in recent years, there have been calls for increased gun legislation in the U.S. In fact, even half of Republicans said they would back stricter gun laws after the Uvalde elementary school massacre in Texas last spring. Gunman Salvador Ramos, 18, shot 19 children and two adults dead using an AR-15 rifle during that tragic event.
“This sort of… 18 to 21-year-old restriction would… not fix everything. But, for instance, young adults, those same age groups can buy rifles, they can buy AR-15s, and an 18-year-old was the Uvalde perpetrator,” said Busse. “A 19-year-old was the perpetrator in Buffalo, New York. And on and on and on. So that age group, that age cadre does account for quite a bit of the, you know, horrific mass murder we see.”
According to a report in The New York Times last June, “six of the nine deadliest mass shootings in the United States since 2018 were by people who were 21 or younger, a shift from earlier decades.”
Another mass murderer – 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia – killed eight people in Texas this month. Even before that horrific shooting, a poll found that around 80% of GOP voters supported background checks for gun buyers.
However, Busse said he expects more rulings such as the Virginia decision to keep incrementally chipping away at gun laws.
“I think your listeners need to prepare for a lot more of this nationwide,” he told Quan.
DOWNLOAD the Audacy App
SIGN UP and follow KCBS Radio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Related
Related
