Teen gunman scorned California garlic festival on social media before mass shooting

Legan killed a 6-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl

What a man.

Watch the NRA filth slither out from under their stones to promote the gun sickness.

They. Don't. Care.

Stephen Romero, 6 Romero was near a bouncy house when he was shot

Picture that. A bouncy house. A 6 year old boy murdered by someone using a semi-automatic weapon. Picture family and friends at the 6 year old's funeral. Though I know this is America, I still sincerely hope something like this never happens to anyone else.

 The weapon that Legan used was a WASR 10 with a 7.62. It is a semi-automatic rifle built in Romania that looks like a military style AK-47. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-29/what-we-know-about-gilroy-garlic-festival-shooting-suspect-santino-william-legan

Legan was fatally shot by three police officers 

Thank you police officers and all emergency service workers for putting their lives on the line every minute they're on duty. That they spend so much time and it costs the public even more in taxes to protect those without guns from those with says a lot about the state of the US.

And I'm sure once again the guns and ammo industries are going to make even more money after this latest shooting. Many in ever-fearful gun owning public buy even more guns and ammo after a shooting. Sick

another angry white shooter + one dead Hispanic 6 year old boy = hate crime

Where is a good president when you need one?

Really sad situation, hearts and deep condolences to the families of the deceased and to the injured, been many times to the Garlic festival in Gilroy and it was always an amazing and peaceful event and hats off to the police for being there in just under 2 minutes and neutralizing the shooter.

My wife was at the festival that morning.

Ban guns. Ban them now.

"Might is Right," a racist and sexist treatise 

Several posters have written the problem with the ongoing gun related massacres of innocents is mental health related. They have suggested screening prior to being allowed to purchase a weapon. Given how angry misogynists and white nationalists are, and how many hate crimes they commit, the screenings should have mechanisms to determine whether the potential purchaser is a bigot of some sort.

You're forgetting the three that gave their lives in sacrifice for the Great Second Amendment!

Sad, but I also feel elated that we have the second Amendment and the cops were able to do their jobs.

They died so that other Americans can carry guns. Heroes! The police - meh.

I see it differently.

I don't see them giving their lives to the second amendment.

Never forget these hero's sacrifice!

I never forget the police and their swift actions and putting their lives on the line in stopping this criminal.

just to put things into perspective, at 19 is illegal to buy a beer, but you can legally buy an "AK-47-style" assault rifle

Are you suggesting that sane people go around shooting up people?

We know that they do, but let's say, for sake of argument, they don't: only insane people shoot people to death.

Well, there were nearly 40,000 gun death in the US in 2017, so that means there's a lot of 'crazy' people out there. We can't predict or prevent mental illness or just suddenly lock up thousands of people for being unwell, but we can prevent guns being sold to people.

So let's do that.

Or as well as Antifa or Trump haters in the country

Attacking conservatives or journalist for the political beliefs

"Antifa" yell at people at restaurants.

Your alt-right pals murder people with guns and leave manifestos glorifying Trump, Anders Brevik and Eliot Rogers.

There's no comparison.

Just look back at a history of mass shootings in the US....

https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/oct/06/newsweek/are-white-males-responsible-more-mass-shootings-an/

They were all mostly committed by basement dwelling, Fox News loving, MAGA hat wearing, white guys who were allowed to purchase arsenals of weapons and ammo due to lax gun laws.

Immigrants? Persons of color? They were mostly the victims.

And our Head Racist in Chief President continues to stoke their hatred with ever more hate-filled racist tweets each day...giving proof that his comments that some white supremacists and Neo Nazis are "very fine people" is at the core of his beliefs...

Just look at his nut-job rallies - anyone think those cries of "Send Them Back" or "Lock Her Up" could easily morph into "Shoot Them Down"?

You better believe they could...

Just look back at a history of mass shootings in the US....

https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/oct/06/newsweek/are-white-males-responsible-more-mass-shootings-an/

They were all mostly committed by basement dwelling, Fox News loving, MAGA hat wearing, white guys who were allowed to purchase arsenals of weapons and ammo due to lax gun laws.

Immigrants? Persons of color? They were mostly the victims.

When will the White Male community condemn these people? Every single time, White Males stay silent. They don't condemn their violent elements or try to confront these people in their own communities. Perhaps it's time to increase measures like random searches, lower burden of proof of guilt and increased prison sentences for White Males until they can sort out their problems.

Also troubling is that besides this kind of atypical food festival shootout, less reported domestic violence / family feud shootings are ongoing with high casualties. Five killed in Wisconsin within a day of the Garlic Fest carnage, for example.

When will the White Male community condemn these people? Every single time, White Males stay silent. They don't condemn their violent elements or try to confront these people in their own communities. Perhaps it's time to increase measures like random searches, lower burden of proof of guilt and increased prison sentences for White Males until they can sort out their problems.

According to the right, people are only responsible for their race if they are non-white, non-males.

By one suspect, that should say.

President Donald Trump described the gunman as a "wicked murderer" during an event at the White House, and asked Americans to pray for the victims.

...

Instead of Trump praying for the victims change the gun laws so there are no more victims.

Dump logic:

Dump is thinking of declaring Antifa a terrorist organization, but about 75% of the extreme acts of terrorism in the US have been committed by members of the Far Right movement.

Therefore, he will try to spin this tragedy on someone else instead of the culprits who are mostly likely his supporters.

The media reports they are still searching for a motive but this article probably says it all. The guy is no deeper than his prejudices.

SneezyToday  10:19 am JST

Are you suggesting that sane people go around shooting up people?

We know that they do, but let's say, for sake of argument, they don't: only insane people shoot people to death.

Well, there were nearly 40,000 gun death in the US in 2017, so that means there's a lot of 'crazy' people out there. We can't predict or prevent mental illness or just suddenly lock up thousands of people for being unwell, but we can prevent guns being sold to people.

So let's do that.

Or as well as Antifa or Trump haters in the country

Attacking conservatives or journalist for the political beliefs

"Antifa" yell at people at restaurants.

Your alt-right pals murder people with guns and leave manifestos glorifying Trump, Anders Brevik and Eliot Rogers.

There's no comparison.

60% of gun deaths in the USA are suicides, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/05/24/suicides-account-for-most-gun-deaths/

I live near Berkeley and Oakland where there has been regular Antifa activity

I'm not against people protesting or gathering for what ever purpose they choose

You will almost always see people at Antifa events destroying, burning, smashing, vandalizing public and private property. To minimalize the facts and say "anitfa just yells at people" is not being honest.

As a small business owner I wouldn't be able to rationalize such actions.

I do understand the destain for larger companies and their greed which are often a target of vandalism, but the rationale that "they can afford to get this fixed" isn't one I think is healthy or helps society as a whole.

I was always taught the Golden Rule and try to live by it

I was also taught to respect other peoples property

Just food for thought,

zichiToday  10:51 am JST

When it comes to guns and mass shootings America is one very sick country, probably terminal because the way back is just too hard for the gun owners to accept.

The 264th shooting just this year.

The right to own a gun is put above the life of a child to live. Why can civilians buy assault rifles? Why are they not already banned when so many mass shooters have used them.

Extreme and immediate gun law reforms with drastic effects must happen and happen now.

People need to be tested to drive a car but not to carry and fire weapons.

The NRA will do whatever it takes to keep its course and enusre there are no changes. The president should label the NRA has a domestic terrorist organization.

This is a factually incorrect statement, I agree all deaths/murders caused by firearms are a tragedy and yes something needs to change.

Here are some facts from the FBI, albeit a bit dated but still relevant

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports prove that the overwhelming majority of gun-related homicides are perpetrated with handguns, with rifles of any kind accounting for less than 3% of gun-related homicides.

In 2013, 5,782 murders were committed by killers who used a handgun, compared to 285 committed by killers who used a rifle.

The same holds true for 2012 (6,404 to 298); 2011 (6,251 to 332); 2010 (6,115 to 367); and 2009 (6,501 to 351).

More people are stabbed to death every year than are murdered with rifles.

A person is more likely to be bludgeoned to death with a blunt object or beaten to death with hands and feet than to be murdered with a rifle.

A tragedy to be sure. At least the gunman got his just desserts and we don't have to spend time and money keeping him locked up.

As to the issue of assault weapons, some cold hard facts could hopefully help people gain some perspective. As has been stated, the vast majority of gun deaths are caused by handguns, NOT assault rifles, assault weapons, standard rifles, shotguns, etc. More people are killed by blunt objects (clubs, hammers) than by rifles of all kinds. More people are even killed by bare hands than rifles. So, the weapon of choice here is statistically irrelevant.

Stories like this make the news, and provoke wailing and gnashing of teeth, but in the end don't produce any lasting results. Last weekend at the same time as this tragedy, nine people were murdered in Chicago by firearms, yet no news at all.

The real problems are the lack of personal accountability, and the failing mental health care system.

Maxwell, are you saying that handguns need to be the focus of new legislation?

So despite the proliferation of handguns, carried as 'the only way to stop mass shootings' no-one pulled one out to shoot the gunman before the police arrived?

Nandaka, that would be true, but....

the Festival was an official "gun free zone". Everyone entering went through metal detectors. For safety, of course. Seems that gun free zones attract an inordinate number of shooters. I wonder why?

Toasted HereticToday 07:38 am JSTWatch the NRA filth slither out from under their stones to promote the gun sickness.

They. Don't. Care.

The loudmouth cretin in charge of the NRA is always preying on people's fears. He is a Robiespeare, a rabble-rousing maniac, he  yells 'fire' in a crowded theater. His childish rantings in 1995 after the OKC terrorist bombings led to mature gun owners like the late ex-Pres. George Bush to quit their NRA membership.

Sneezy When will the White Male community condemn these people? Every single time, White Males stay silent. They don't condemn their violent elements or try to confront these people in their own communities. Perhaps it's time to increase measures like random searches, lower burden of proof of guilt and increased prison sentences for White Males until they can sort out their problems.

Another big problem. Too many White Males claim they are the ones being persecuted. They really believe that immigrants get free everything and don't have to work for 7 years! They lambast the feminism and 'Me Too' movement, they claim to be a 'minority', it's 'liberal' this and that, they just cry cry cry-cry-cry and they follow, believe and suck up to boorish brats like Trumptraitor, Rubbish Limbaugh and other hateful scum. Anti-Jew, anti-Islam, anti-gay, their problem is their weak pathetic unthinking selves! They watch wars and police activity (necessary or not) on TV and they chant and cheer like the cowardly immature imbeciles they are. They are hateful, bullying, childish and juvenile. And sadly that's the way it is for many White American males.

I think there's also an addiction to power thing and the benefits it brings going on at the top end.

The NRA is one of a few lobby groups that really have a grip on the Republican Party by the short and curlies. They can make and break representatives, they are throwing huge amounts of money at marginal seats to alter the nature of power and representation.

And they serve the gun industry. They are the de facto militarized PR wing of the gun making industry and it is all about money.

The cult like adherent claim it is about the 2nd Amendment, which has become something of religious significance to them, a symbol of their kind of America that, for me, is a "shot 'em up" mentality that still appears to be in the 18th Century.

At present it appears to be the overpower national myth.

Do people in the UK, Japan etc not hate each other enough that they don't need to shoot each other? Do people in the UK, Japan etc not get as angry as Americans? Of course they hate and get angry just as much. No, they have just sensibly chosen to relinquish the idiocy of having weapons of war lying around their houses.

Clearly, it the US needs to evolve.

Of course, part of gun owner is a response to higher crime rates, but that is cause by financial inequality.

Cure the financial inequality, and especially give up the ridiculously failed "war on drugs", and there would be no need for guns and a drop in gun deaths to European levels.

And, if you really believe King George or the English are going to come back and invade the US, then organize a genuine militia.

The "militias", as I wrote earlier, were originally 'slave patrols' hunting escaped slaves, read up on much of the early gun laws - in pre-Police, pre-National Guard, pre-Army days - that were all about denying black people and the poor guns in case they rose up against the elite. The US has armed Police, National Guard, and a Military now to do that job.

The idea of organizing private gun owners to repel an imaginery foreign or domestic tyrant in a joke.

Must be white since he's not being called a "terrorist".

Ilhan Omar was right that if any single ethnic group in the US should be singled out and profiled it's white men. They have committed 100% of terrorist attacks in the last few years.

The shooter in this case was named Santino William Legan. He is of mixed race with Italian and Iranian ancestry. By today’s matrix he is a person of color descended from immigrants and is clearly a minority. But apparently, the narrative dictates that Legan needs to be a white supremacist, so just like that he became supremely white.

I think Italians made it into being White some time ago, didn't they?

Of course, it wasn't always that way in the US.

The grandfather's name sounds Azeri, who are caucasians, as in literally people of the Caucasus. Don't know the rest of his family tree.

Much is being made a single line be posted about a book white supremacist endorse, Might is Right.

Might is Right: Survival of the Fittest is an 1896 book written by a mysterious individual who called himself Ragnar Redbeard. It is a lengthy rant endorsing an uncompromising form of social Darwinism.

Redbeard argues that "Socialism, Christianism, Democracism, Equalityism, are really the whining yelpings of base-bred mongrel-multitudes ... Blessed are the Iron-handed, the unfit shall flee before them. Cursed are the Haters of Battle, subjugation is their portion".

A more sure classification is 'teenage boy with assault weapon'. If he had not been able to buy one legally, likely it would have never happened. Boy's brains aren't properly cooked at that age.

And

According to the ADL, "from 2009 to 2018, right-wing extremists accounted for 73 percent of such killings, compared with 23 percent for Islamists and 3 percent for left-wing extremists. In other words, most terrorist attacks in the United States, and most deaths from terrorist attacks, are caused by white extremists".

A new analysis of 358 mass shootings in America in 2015 ....

Meanwhile in the civilized world no such analysis would be possible due to lack of data.