Hialeah, Florida: Only the Latest Mass Shooting by a Concealed Carry Killer

[Robb]

This past weekend, in Hialeah, Florida, a man with a concealed handgun permit burned $10,000 in cash, set fire to his apartment, shot and killed six people, and then took two others hostage before the shooter, Pedro Vargas, was killed by police. An officer said it was "one of the worst shootings we've probably had ever in Hialeah."

But it wasn't the only mass shooting Hialeah has recently seen committed by a concealed handgun permit holder.

On June 6, 2010, Gerardo Regalado killed four women and wounded three others at Yoyito Cafe-Restaurant in Hialeah. As a witness described the scene: "He came in running, like a crazy man ... shooting everybody." Relatives described him as "pure evil" with a history of abusing women. And yet once again, the shooter had obtained a permit to carry a concealed handgun.

Florida is one of many states that allow virtually anyone to carry a concealed handgun in public. The result of these exceedingly lax concealed carry laws, combined with the failure to adopt other sensible gun violence prevention policies like background checks and a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, is that horrific events like these mass shootings in Hialeah are repeated over and over again.

Gunmen with concealed carry permits have been responsible for at least 25 mass shootings since 2007, claiming at least 113 victims when last weekend's Hialeah shooting is included, according to data we have compiled at the Violence Policy Center. Most states, including Florida, do not release information on crimes committed by concealed carry killers. However, based largely on news reports, we have found hundreds of examples of deadly incidents that include not only mass shootings, but other murders, unintentional deaths, and suicides....

Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/hialeah-only-the-latest-m_b_3676274.html

[trumad]

1. The town I grew up in...