A White gunman who killed three Black people at a Jacksonville Dollar General store Saturday legally purchased the two firearms used in the racially motivated attack, local law enforcement confirmed.
The man, identified Sunday as 21-year-old Ryan Christopher Palmeter of Clay County, Fla., on Saturday drove to Edward Waters University, a historically Black college, but was refused entry, according to the school. He then drove to the nearby store, where he opened fire using an AR-15-style rifle inscribed with Nazi insignia, authorities said.
Police described a methodic rampage that lasted less than 11 minutes and killed Angela Michelle Carr, 52; Anolt Joseph Laguerre Jr., 19; and Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion, 29.
Jacksonville police on Sunday said law enforcement had been called about Palmeter previously in a domestic incident, and he also had been held during a mental health crisis. But those cases did not result in a criminal record, so there was no legal reason to stop him from acquiring the guns he purchased this year between April and July.
Believe it or not, the gun shops involved followed the law. The sheriff said that the domestic violence incident between the shooter and his brother were on file, but that he didn’t see a criminal record or the mental health incident. The gun shop would not have known anything was out of the ordinary.
Oh sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that they supplied the gun to the shooter, a key step in the rampage.
The article gives a step by step breakdown of how the shooting went down, gives the names of the targeted location (Dollar Tree store), nearby university that went into lockdown (Edward Waters University), the streets where a makeshift memorial is being set up, names of the victims and people who interacted with him, etc. Presumably, none of these people and places ever wanted to be associated with the tragedy of a mass shooting, but unfortunately they had no choice in the matter.
The gun shop that sold the shooter the gun is no different. They’re intimately involved in the shooting; they have no choice in the matter, just like all the other victims. Even if they’ve followed every law they’re still linked to this tragedy. Following the law didn’t spare any of the victims from being linked to a mass killing, why should that protect the gun shop?