Let’s face it, 66-year-old Johnny Lee Wicks – the man who opened fire at a Las Vegas, Nev. federal building Monday, killing retired Las Vegas Police Sgt. Stanley Cooper, 72, who was working as a security guard – was living proof of the abject failure of gun control laws.
Wicks, according to the Washington Times, had a criminal background that included murder and drug charges in Memphis, Tenn., in the 1970s and assault and rape charges 20 years ago in California. He did time in prison for killing his own brother in March 1974, a sentence that originally was set at 55 years but was reduced to 12 to 15 years after an appeal, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
Bottom line: Wicks was a guy who should not have had a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun, or any other kind of firearm, and while this incident will certainly fuel the argument that “weak gun laws” and “easy access to firearms” are to blame, there is a much different perspective that gun control proponents simply and routinely ignore.
The 66-year-old, who was shot dead after a running gunfight with authorities, served time in prison three decades ago for killing his brother with a shotgun in Memphis, Tenn.
Even the most regressive and restrictive gun laws do not prevent people like Wicks from getting firearms. What those laws do accomplish is to force law-abiding citizens to jump through a series of bureaucratic hoops in order to exercise a constitutionally-protected individual civil right. Owning a firearm is the only civil right that first requires permission from the FBI before it may be exercised by a private citizen, and guys like Johnny Wicks don’t bother with background checks or any local regulations.
Hours before his shooting rampage, Wicks reportedly set fire to his apartment. Evidently he knew he would not be returning home. He tucked the shotgun under a black trench coat and walked about three miles to the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse. Shortly after the doors opened up at 8 a.m., Wicks walked in and opened fire.
Newspapers are now describing Wicks as having deep-seated hatred toward government. He was a “disgruntled Social Security recipient.” He lost a federal lawsuit last year over a cut in his Social Security benefits, the result of his move from California to Nevada. He complained of racial discrimination. The Review-Journal noted that he argued with apartment managers in Fresno, where he was evicted in 1998. Wicks claimed in a protest letter that he got the boot “Because I am Black.”
Maybe he was evicted because he was just plain bad, a fact that was underscored Monday morning when he started shooting.
He was accused of assault to commit rape in Sacramento in 1989, the FBI said. He served jail time after pleading no contest to domestic battery in Sacramento in 1995, court records there show.
Published reports say Wicks got off five rounds, including the one that mortally wounded Cooper, who lived long enough to fire one shot back at his killer.
One alarming aspect of this incident is that – again according to published reports – lawmen fired a total of 81 rounds at Wicks before he was brought down in a gun battle that stretched across one Las Vegas street. Eighty of those shots were fired by three deputy marshals and three security officers. The raw video sounds like the last few minutes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. That’s a lot of lead flying around. Wicks reportedly died from a bullet to the head. More than 30 bullets reportedly struck the walls and windows of a building in front of which Wicks collapsed. It is not clear where the other rounds went but when there is that much shooting, at least one cardinal rule of gun safety – know your backstop – gets overlooked early in the process. (You can link to the video here.)
The shotgun appears to have been his “weapon of choice.” He used a shotgun to kill his brother in ’74. Published reports say Wicks reloaded the gun after firing the first three shots – no “high capacity magazine” here – and was cut down after firing another two rounds. While this was hardly a “semiautomatic assault weapon,” do not be surprised if some anti-gun group uses this incident to launch a new tirade against semi-autos.
No doubt authorities will trace that gun, but the fact that Wicks violated several existing gun laws, and also violated the statute against premeditated murder, seems to escape those who believe that adding more layers of gun control legislation will magically eliminate such crimes.
Here’s a short list of violations: felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit, carrying a firearm into a federal building, illegal discharge of a firearm, aggravated assault with a firearm, murder with a firearm, assaulting a federal officer with a firearm and that’s just on the surface.
The Wicks case and other recent crimes involving felons with guns provide the “inconvenient truth” that if gun control laws were treated like a consumer product, they would have been pulled off the shelves long ago for consistently failing to live up to the advertising claims. Indeed, the Federal Trade Commission might have gone after the “manufacturers” of those laws for fraud.
More from Gun Rights Examiners
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Cheyenne: Anthony Bouchard | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Phoenix: Douglas Little | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Wisconsin: Gene German
And Don’t forget to visit:
For more info: Assault on Weapons: The Campaign to Eliminate Your Guns.
Comments
I_D government statistics say your wrong, that CCW permit holders are more law abiding then even cops. But your mind is already made up and no amount of truth and facts will ever change that.
Il Deuce.
That make absolutely no sense at all. Back on your meds.
wow II Deuce, you should move to Chicago. you'd fit right in. Another reason why this place sucks and I'm moving.
But the perp was black right? So what you just said about gun owners could also be said of black people? according to you "black people are violent criminals looking for a victim. All of them. No exceptions" well, this guy got social security payments, right? So all social security recipients are violent criminals?
Rather than making people do background checks to buy a gun, why don't you make them pass a test before they are allowed to have kids! Think your parents would have passed???
By the way, Good critique Workman. 80 missing rounds is disturbing, but was the perp behind cover or actively moving? Either way, those guards would have had to reload multiple times each. gun control = hitting your target
Deuce, is a certain number of braincells that America can't even fit a Dunce Cap too!
About 80 million gun owners in America would disagree with II Deuce. Ignorant comments like come from the fact that the vast majority of gun owners not only never shoot anyone, but also don't tell others that they own guns. If II Deuce were to query his friends (assuming he has some) he might be shocked at how many are "...violent criminals looking for a victim".
Obviously, there needs to be a ban on black trench coats. I'll bet it was an <b>evil</b> black trench coat, to boot.
Il Deuce
All I can say is that it's been a long wait. I'm now 64 years old and I got my first gun when I was 12. I've never even considered murdering anybody. It might be interesting for you to consider why you're worried about it.
Projection, denial, ranting statement, belief in a fetish (inanimate object has supernatural powers) and acknowledged schizophrenia (people can be influenced by the voices emenating from the inanimate object and automatically become killers just by proximity to an inanimate object), all traits of Il_Duece and proven by this wackos statement and choice of screen name. Geez, didnt the people beat the crap out of Il_Duece and use his and his mistress's body for a target and pizzin post? By gosh they did. Il_Duece was the small irrelevant dictator who had to bow to the mighty megolamaniac and gun control fanatic Hitler whose direction and actions led to the deaths of 30 million. This modern day Il_Duece is still super small and even more irrelevant.
II_Deuce, let's say that the private ownership of firearms was in force at the time of this shooting. Please tell me how this would have changed the outcome. This idiot would still have a gun and this retired officer would still be dead. This man was a criminal and did not follow any laws. If every gun owner, as you say, with no exceptions, is looking for a victim, you would be dead.
II_Deuce--(Although I hate to feed a troll): I really think you shouldn't have given up on the 12 Step program so early. Your comment is so bizarre it suggests your neighbor's dog must have barked it in your ear during the night, commanding you to post it here.
El Ducky, have you any support for your assertion? You have just opened yourself to a slander suit, hope you have deep pockets.
P.S. El Ducky, you are a bigot of the first order.
"Just goes to show you, gun owners are violent criminals looking for a victim. All of them. No exceptions."- Il Douche.
Simply can't be true, you're not dead. We win, you lose. unless you buy or steal a gun and murder yourself, then you win, we win.
Stats show that Doctor amd hospital mistakes kill 1000 times more people than guns. and all most everyone has a doctor. Maybe we need a seven day waiting period to get a doctor
Wow, thank goodness that everyone being shot at was legally forbidden from having weapons. Just think of how dull the news would have been otherwise: "Felon with shotgun injured during attempted shooting at courthouse".
Please stop feeding the troll. He doesn't believe what he's saying; he is just winding you up.
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