Two people critical in hospital as officials in Bend say 16-year-old suspect shot dead by bystander

A 16-year-old shooter opened fire at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, on Thursday, killing three children and a teacher before he was shot dead by a community member, authorities said at an evening news conference.

The dead children at Silver Rail elementary school were aged five, eight and 11, officials said.

A seven-year-old and a 54-year-old were also hospitalized with critical injuries, according to police.

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[+] -42 points 4 days ago (40 children)

Doesn't Oregon have some of the tightest gun control measures in the U.S.? Only shortly behind CA and WA states?

So like what are they going to do next? Ban bullets?

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  • [–] 42 points 4 days ago (10 children)

    You know the “strictest “ gun laws are simply things like doing a background check on all gun transactions right?!

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  • [–] 16 points 4 days ago (9 children)

    And those background checks clear very fast. I purchased a gun a few years ago and the background check cleared within a minute or two, it wasn't significantly more difficult than buying a candybar.

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  • [+] -7 points 4 days ago (8 children)

    It takes a minute or two just to fill the form out on the laptop...

    Under half an hour walking in and out is realistic for the entire process, but even if your hitting a stop watch the second the employee hits "submit" and staring at a screen hooked up to a fiber Internet connection...

    It's not a "minute or two"

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  • [–] 8 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    In Texas, you can peer to peer a gun sale without any checks of any kind…

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  • [–] 4 points 4 days ago

    In the vast majority of states that's true...

    Which leads to people intentionally not looking at license plates or even asking for a driver's license.

    The only way to get in trouble as a seller is if you know the buyer can't buy a gun, so sellers avoid all possible information, including age or if they live in that state.

    I purchased a rifle at like 12 at a flea market because I was already 6 foot tall and my dad wanted to see if I could. Dude didn't ask for Idea and I handed him less than a hundred dollars

    As long as that loophole exists, anyone can get a gun. Even if they have to drive a state over.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 days ago (4 children)

    I'm confident I was in the store for less than 40 minutes, and yeah, when I say "a minute or two" that's obviously a every rough estimate.

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  • [–] -2 points 4 days ago (3 children)

    it wasn’t significantly more difficult than buying a candybar

    Kind of curious what you call that then...

    But really doubt I'm ever go to see it

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  • [–] 1 point 4 days ago (2 children)

    I'm not entirely sure what you're asking/saying here.

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  • [–] 29 points 4 days ago (8 children)

    Oregon's "strict" gun laws are basically a rumor. Measure 114 passed in 2022 and has never taken effect, lawsuits and lawmakers keep kicking it down the road.

    So what we actually have is background checks. Now put 2+2 together and realize a 16 year old was never buying a gun legally in the first place. Whatever he used started as somebody's legal purchase… let that sink in.

    Meanwhile, the story everyone wants to sell you, once again, is the armed bystander. Which is exactly the kind of story that sells more guns, especially out here in Oregon. More guns sitting in trucks and closets where a teenager can get to them, a teenager who never got a background check, or a thief who can steal them and sell them to someone nobody background checked either.

    Four people are dead. Three children. One teacher.

    I'll keep waiting for the part where the system and our "stricter" gun laws worked.

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  • [+] -8 points 4 days ago (5 children)

    Well like you said. There are more guns. So why haven't Dems put forward more laws to encourage gun lockers, safes, safe public storage locations and more laws to criminalize reckless storage, actually enforce those? More encouragement and incentives for training, education that doesn't cost $300+

    Keep in mind the states on the West Coast have been heavily controlled by Dems for years now, so why not move forward instead of stuck in the ideals of banning firearms? Why move forward with the stereotype of taking away firearms?

    Seems to only embolden and encourage more firearm purchases if you ask anyone with a brain.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 days ago

    Compare the practicality and effectiveness in legislating and enforcing what people do with weapons inside their homes, vehicles, sheds over limiting access to the kinds of weapons people ("We the people" is inclusive of the most careless among our population) can obtain.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 days ago

    perhaps instead you should ask why republicans block every attempt at federal gun regulation? Especially after SandyHook... you'd have to be a heartless monster not to support gun control after that. Which, Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable calling all elected republicans heartless monsters.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 days ago* (1 child)

    No state can reasonable restrict guns. They're too easy to get anyway

    Kind of like how the whole country is strict on felons owning guns, but they all have them anyway

    The US needs federal gun reform to stop this, but we've decided dead children are worth it to have largely unrestrained gun ownership

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  • [–] 4 points 3 days ago

    but we’ve decided dead children are worth it to have largely unrestrained gun ownership

    That doesn't even help us when we find ourselves in the literal situation the founding fathers gave us the right for.

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  • [–] 19 points 4 days ago

    There's only so much you can do when the Roberte court decides what is and is not constitutional. The best gun control measures in the US still have to contend with being in the US. I live in Oregon, and I can tell you as a fact that its very easy to buy a gun here.

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  • Oregon isn't that tightly controlled. There is a mandatory BG check and we have measure 114 restrictions still stuck in legal implementation limbo, but especially in the eastern part of the state gun culture is huge and everyone has one. Kinda comes with the outdoorsy stuff.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 days ago (10 children)

    You can just drive across state lines with guns.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 days ago (8 children)

    It's not hard to get a gun in Oregon

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  • [+] -7 points 4 days ago (6 children)

    Which is good because it looks like the shooter was stopped by someone who was armed.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 days ago (4 children)

    Ahh yes, the answer to gun violence is obviously more guns.

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  • [–] -5 points 4 days ago (3 children)

    Only morons believe the answer is to get rid of all guns. You might as well ask to get rid of cancer too.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    I never said get rid of all guns, I own 6 of them myself. But there is a wide gap between "free gun with every candybar, no limitations" and "ban all guns".

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  • [–] 2 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    WA doesn't have particularly stringent gun-purchase laws in my experience. I've bought three handguns over the past three decades and I don't remember any major obstacles. I think there was an FBI(?) background check and maybe a State Patrol background check (the latter just checks your criminal record for in-state crimes). Those were long ago for me and SP check can be done online now - probably takes a few minutes and costs a few dollars. I'm not sure if there's any kind of background checks for long guns, I suspect not but I'm sure someone with a gun hobby will chime in.

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