Guns

Just one week before the mass shooting at a Colorado supermarket, the Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA) publicly praised a court ruling striking down a gun control ordinance passed by Boulder city council, Newsweek reports.

In a March 17 post to Twitter, CSSA, which is the official state association of the National Rifle Association in Colorado, praised a "legal win" over the City of Boulder.

On Tuesday, Newsweek reported that the QAnon movement is already spreading wild conspiracy theories that the mass shooting at King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado was a "false flag" operation.

"Rather than express empathy for the victims of the attack, supporters of QAnon ... instead declared that the media reports and statements from the police were all false and that there is no way yet another mass shooting could have occurred in the U.S.," reported Ewan Palmer. "'No question Boulder, Co incident today was a false flag. The only question is by which side?,' one QAnon profile, who has more than 260,000 subscribers on Telegram, wrote. 'False flag means it's fake. Nobody actually died. Was this false flag to try and take your guns or scare the s**t out of you?'"

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) came under withering criticism on Twitter late Monday for her tweets about the mass shooting at a Colorado grocery store, with many pointing out her avid support for more guns on the streets of the United States.

As reporting on the shooting was breaking, the gun-toting lawmaker was busy tweeting, "The White House just called a lid at 1:13pm today. Biden is back in the basement, figuratively at least. Meanwhile, the country is in chaos and the border is coming apart at the seams."

An hour later she finally addressed the shooting, with a tweet offering the usual "prayers" for victims -- a pro forma message usually delivered by conservative lawmakers every time there is a mass gun-related act of violence.

She wrote, "My prayers are with the shoppers, employees, first responders & others affected by the shooting in Boulder. May God be with them. While we are still awaiting important information and details in this case, random public shootings & senseless acts of violence are never ok."

That brought on a flood of criticism with one commenter bluntly stating, "How dare you."

You can see some responses below:

Shocking videos posted online purport to show the aftermath of a shooting in Boulder, Colorado.

"The Boulder Police Department is warning people to stay away from the King Soopers store at 3600 Table Mesa Drive because of an active shooter at the store," The Denver Post reported Monday. "The King Soopers store anchors a large shopping center in the southern part of Boulder, a few blocks from Fairview High School. The Boulder Valley School District is on spring break this week. District spokeswoman Randy Barber said to his knowledge no students or staff were in any of the buildings near the King Soopers on Monday."

After a gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle killed 10 people in a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado on Monday, the second mass shooting in the United States in less than a week, calls rang out for Democrats to use their slim majority in Congress to finally eliminate the legislative filibuster and pass substantial gun safety laws over foreseeable GOP obstruction.

"We're absolutely heartbroken for everyone who has been impacted," progressive advocacy group Indivisible said in the wake of the massacre. "You're going to see another round of 'we can't do anything yet, there was a tragedy' hand-wringing, but we must end gun violence now. Let's eliminate the filibuster and pass real gun violence prevention legislation."

According to a report from Forbes, Asian-Americans are flooding gun shops in search of personal protection as hate crimes against their community explodes.

The report comes during the week when an Atlanta man went on a killing spree shooting eight people -- six of them women of Asian descent.

According to Jimmy Gong, the owner of Jimmy's Sport Shop in Mineola, New York, gun sales went up during the coronavirus pandemic, but sales to Asian-Americans have undergone a dramatic increase.

"There are more Asians being introduced to firearms. Before, there was never gun culture in the Asian community. But after the pandemic and all the hate crime going on, there are more Asians buying guns to defend themselves," he explained adding that half his sales lately is to Asian-Americans and that pepper spray sales have boomed too.

Danielle Jaymes, general manager of Poway Weapons & Gear in Poway, California, said she has noticed "a 20% increase in Asian-American first-time customers to her store over the last year" with many claiming they are buying for self-defense reasons.

According to Tim Hensley, general manager of Towers Armory in Ohio, "They're feeling a lot more unsafe in their environment and I think it's more dramatic for them now, especially with what just happened," before adding, "They're trying to get proficient, which is telling me that there is an urgency."

According to Forbes, "Hate crimes against Asian-Americans surged 149% in 2020, while overall hate crimes fell 7%, according to a study based on police statistics by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. The researchers found that hate crimes spiked in March and April 2020 'amidst a rise in Covid cases and negative stereotyping of Asians relating to the pandemic.'" adding, "During the anti-Asian hate crime spree, Asian-Americans have become a more familiar sight in gun shops, as they mingle among the millions of Americans who are buying guns for the first time."

According to POLITICO, lawmakers around the country are seeking to purchase security equipment like panic buttons, bulletproof vests, and gas masks using campaign or taxpayer funds, in response to admissions from law enforcement that they have no way of responding to every threat.

"Alarmed by a growing number of threats, harassment and scenes of violence at government buildings, lawmakers in both parties are seeking clarity from election agencies on whether they can spend campaign dollars and taxpayer money on security and personal protective equipment — everything from body armor to panic buttons at home," reported Daniel Payne.

According to a police report cited by The New York Times, the man suspected in a string of massage parlor killings in Atlanta asked a sheriff's deputy if he was going to spend "the rest of his life" in jail.

Robert Aaron Long, 21, posed the question as he was being brought to a cell after his arrest Tuesday night. He has been charged with eight counts of murder in the attacks on three massage parlors.

The front page of Fox News' website Thursday offered a graphic for its story about the 21-year old Georgia man who has been charged with shooting to death eight people, including seven women, six of whom are Asian American. The graphic's headline reads "'Remorseful' Sex Addict?"

"Atlanta suspect had rehab, felt 'shame ' over addiction, ex-roommates say," the sub-head reads.

A Newsmax panel of five white people on Thursday suggested that it was wrong to criticize the "whiteness" of the Georgia shooter who targeted Asian spas in a murder spree this week.

The segment began by arguing that it is "too early" to designate the murders as a racially-motivated hate crime.

Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said on Wednesday that a man who admitted murdering 8 people at two Asian spas had a "really bad day."

At a press conference in Atlanta, Baker said that he saw no indications that 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long had racial motivations for the killings that left six Asian people dead.

The Cherokee County Sheriff's office in Georgia has said that there is no evidence that a killing spree of Asian people was racially motivated or a hate crime.

The department told WSB that investigators had interviewed 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long and he gave "no indicators" of racial motivations.

Manufacturers of military-grade body armor are feeling pressure to distance themselves from extremist groups after several Trump supporters at the January 6th Capitol riots were seen wearing their gear.

USA Today reports that some manufacturers have come out and denounced the Capitol rioters who wore their gear to the January 6th insurrection that was aimed at blocking Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory.