When an 18-year-old shooter arrived last week at Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas — where he ultimately killed 21 people, including 19 children and two teachers — he carried 1,657 rounds of ammunition, authorities said.
The large number of rounds should not come as a surprise, experts told ABC News. The tragedy drew renewed scrutiny to a collection of state and national laws that regulate ammunition less tightly than firearms, despite the vital role played by ammunition in mass shootings, experts said.
A shooter at a Las Vegas music festival, in 2017, who killed 59, had at least 1,600 rounds. A shooter at an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in 2012, who killed 27, had more than 1,700 rounds of ammunition at his home. And a shooter at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, also in 2012, who killed 12, had bought more than 6,000 rounds, officials said.
Current regulations often allow for the purchase of massive amounts of ammunition and high-capacity magazines without a background check or even a face-to-face interaction, experts added.
MORE: Uvalde police, school district no longer cooperating with Texas probe of shooting: Sources
While gun control proponents say ammunition deserves stronger restrictions that would limit the frequency and severity of mass shootings, gun rights advocates argue that ammunition restrictions violate Second Amendment protections and unnecessarily duplicate the regulations in place for guns, experts said.
“There are fewer restrictions on ammunition sales than there are on firearm sales both at the federal level and in the vast majority of states,” Jacob Charles, executive director of the Center for Firearms Law at Duke University School of Law, told ABC News.
“Someone intent on a mass casualty event is going to have enough ammunition to be able to keep shooting until they’re stopped,” he said.
Federal law prohibits the sale of ammunition in a narrow set of circumstances, experts said.
Again, the problem is the “CRIMINAL” not the firearm or ammunition !!!!
Absolutely correct!
Obama is still running the country, he once said you may have your 2nd Amendment, but you have no right to ammo. WAKE UP PEEPS – Bidon is just a fake puppet
if they need that many bullets then they are a piss shot and the cops should be able to take them out easy enough
Guns are not the issue really. It’s dramatic sure but any psycho could just take a weed wacker go into any Kindergarten and mutilate babies but they have been indoctrinated that THIS is a Gun culture. I wonder how alluring it would be for them if Guns were as quiet as electric cars and painted pink.
Millions and millions of firearms and ammo owners hurt no one each day.
Millions and millions of firearms hurt no one and no thing every day.
Tons, and tons, and tons of ammo hurt no one and no thing everyday.
From a population of 330 million, a few criminals use a firearm and ammo each day. That is where our focus should be.