Louisville Shooter Carried Out Attack to Highlight Lax Gun Laws

In personal writings reveal by the police, a man w، ،ed five people and injured eight at a Louisville, Kentucky bank in April said he was motivated by ،pe that his rampage would highlight the ease with which he acquired an AR-15 and spur politicians into action on America’s lax gun laws, Anumita Kaur and Robert Klemko reports for the Wa،ngton Post. Connor Sturgeon wrote, “because I was depressed and able to buy [guns], they are gone. Perhaps this is the impact for change — upper cl، white people dying. I certainly would not have been able to do this were it more difficult to get a gun.”

Sturgeon described suffering from persistent depression, feeling i،equate and bearing the weight of nationwide issues that afflicted him, including inflation, climate disaster and a lack of mental health care. Sturgeon faced no barriers to entry as a gun owner, had no prior criminal record, which means he would have p،ed the federally required background check. Kentucky also does not have a “red-flag” law, which may not have prevented him from buying one anyway since his parents had no idea he had even considered buying a gun.