The smoke had barely cleared after Wednesday’s deadly rampage by a disgruntled maintenance worker at a San Jose light rail yard when it became the focus of the nation’s fevered debate over gun laws.
The San Francisco Bay Area’s deadliest mass shooting prompted President Joe Biden to urge Congress to “help end this epidemic of gun violence in America.” Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the scene and recalled another mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in 2019. Advocates for stricter gun laws argued that this latest in a series of mass shootings nationally is proof of the need for more federal laws.
But the massacre of nine workers at Valley Transportation Authority’s maintenance yard also unfolded in a state that has enacted the most extensive restrictions on firearm ownership in the country, prompting gun rights advocates to declare them not only ineffective but counterproductive.
“California’s ‘no gun’ policies were completely ignored by the killer,” said Aidan Johnston, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America. “Did that stop the mass murderer? No. Did it leave law-abiding citizens defenseless? Yes.”
While the investigation continues to unfold, new details Thursday made clear several of the state’s gun laws failed to stop the bloodshed.
Law enforcement authorities said that the gunman, Samuel Cassidy, used three semi-automatic pistols, all legally obtained, but he was equipped with 32 ammunition magazines holding 12 to 15 rounds, which are illegal in California. The state limits magazines for civilian use to 10 rounds. It was not clear how or where he got them or if he bought them before California banned their sale in 2013 or possession in 2016. There was a short window after a successful court challenge last August when the larger magazines were legal to purchase, but the ban is now back in effect, pending a federal appeals court decision.
Cassidy, who killed himself when deputies arrived at the scene, also had several other firearms legally registered to him, including shotguns and rifles, but only used the pistols in the rampage, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig Fair.
California requires universal background checks on all firearm transfers, including gun shows and private sales, background checks to buy ammunition, a 10-day waiting period after purchase, and bans military-style “assault weapons” often used in mass shootings.
The high-capacity magazine ban aims to reduce the lethality of mass shootings by limiting the number of shots that can be fired before reloading, giving potential victims a chance to flee or fight back.
But authorities said the gunman Wednesday used all three guns to fire off dozens of rounds, freely reloading as he mowed down his co-workers. Sheriff Laurie Smith noted that reloading a semi-automatic handgun is “very quick.”
California also has a recently enhanced “red flag” law that allows worried family members, coworkers, employers and law enforcement officers to petition a judge to temporarily disarm a gun owner found to be acting menacingly.
There appeared to be plenty of red flags around Cassidy. His ex-wife said he was volatile and talked of killing his co-workers. An ex-girlfriend accused him in a 2009 court filing of “enraged” liquor-fueled mood swings, and a Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal indicated U.S. customs officials had found him with “a black memo book filled with lots of notes about how he hates the VTA.” And in a news release Thursday afternoon, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said Cassidy “has been a highly disgruntled VTA employee for many years, which may have contributed to why he targeted VTA employees.”
But Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said it did not appear anyone had tried to invoke the red-flag law to disarm Cassidy.
Johnston added that the gunman also violated laws against possessing guns in transit facilities.
But advocates for expanding strict gun laws like those in California nationwide argue that just because they don’t stop all gun murders doesn’t mean they don’t work. They argue that federal laws would be even more effective, pointing to statistics showing states such as California and others with similar gun restrictions have lower firearm mortality rates than those with looser laws.
“No one gun law can stop all shootings, but California’s network of strong gun laws has helped make it one of the safest states in the country,” said Jessica Blitchok, a volunteer with the California chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “Even a state with strong gun laws like California, however, is only as safe as neighboring states with weak gun laws. That’s why we need bipartisan, federal action on gun safety.”
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