What can the law do to prevent sick killers?

27-year-old former high school football player Shane Devon Tamura asked that his brain be studied after a murder spree and suicide in Manhattan

UPDATE - Wednesday 6:30 a.m.: It’s now becoming apparent that the shooter was targeting the NFL. Let me ask, what kind of gun law could prevent someone from planning this kind of crime, or planning to assassinate a healthcare insurance company CEO, or any premeditated gun crime, if the person contemplating the act is not exhibiting crazy behavior and is otherwise qualified to purchase a gun under even the most stringent background check and gun control laws? Short of a total gun ban or a ban on all semiautomatic long guns (meaning only single shot bolt action is legal), I can’t think of one.

But I didn’t hear the gun banners scream when Floyd Lee Corkins walked into the Family Research Council office with a 9mm and backpack full of Chick-fil-A to leave as a sick calling card with his intended victims. The only material difference between that event and this one is that the security guard at FRC stopped Corkins and the security guard at 345 Park Avenue failed to stop the shooter. The killing potential of a long gun with a 30 round magazine and a 9mm with three 10 round magazines in an office setting is almost nil.

Here’s what I know so far. Shane Devon Tamura, a 27-year-old former high school football player, drove from his home in Las Vegas, across the country to New York City, where he double-parked his BMW on a busy street in Manhattan, retrieved an AR-15 style rifle, walked across the entrance plaza of 345 Park Avenue, the rifle in full sight, entered the building and began shooting.

Image courtesy of NYPD via New York Post

According to the New York Post, Tamura was employed as a security guard at a casino before he was recently fired. In a press statement New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tamura’s motive has not been established, but she believed he has a “documented mental health history.”

ABC News reported that Tamura was issued a concealed firearms permit by the Las Vegas Police Department. Tamura also had been issued a work card by the Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board, which had expired.

The Post reported that Tamura, who apparently fatally shot himself in the chest after his murder spree, was found with a note on him asking that his brain be studied. The pages-long note also allegedly referred to Tamura’s struggle with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Wikipedia notes that CTE is common in athletes involved in “striking-based combat sports, such as kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and contact sports such as…American football.”

First-stage symptoms are confusion, disorientation, dizziness, and headaches. Second-stage symptoms include memory loss, social instability, impulsive behavior, and poor judgment. Third and fourth stages include progressive dementia, movement disorders, hypomimia, speech impediments, sensory processing disorder, tremors, vertigo, deafness, depression and suicidality.^[7]

Also, Wikipedia adds, there is “no specific treatment for the disease.”

I don’t want to speculate here. It would be easy to say that Tamura composed a kind of cry for help, went to the most visible place in the country, and did something horrible, deadly, immoral, to raise public awareness of a sports brain trauma crisis. That would be an awful argument that I cannot defend, nor should I try. I will note that many have tried to defend another New York killer’s argument that Luigi Mangione’s cold-blooded assassination of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthCare, was somehow a necessary wake-up call about the evil of health insurers.

The truth is that Mangione, who still lives and faces the death penalty, and apparently, Tamura, are sick killers.

More details on Tamura. He let a woman who was exiting the elevator in the lobby walk away after killing off-duty NYPD officer Didarul Islam, a 36-year-old with two children and a wife pregnant with his third child. Islam was working security at the Midtown skyscraper. Tamura killed a total of three others, taking the elevator to the 33rd floor of the 44 floor building, which houses offices of the NFL and investment firm Blackstone, according to the New York Times. An NFL employee was injured and is in critical condition.

Tamura attended Santa Clarita High School in California, and also played as a running back for Grenada Hills Charter school, ABC News reported.

The rifle allegedly carried by Tamura, courtesy of the New York Post.

Based on the photo in the Post, the killer carried an AR-15 style rifle, that appears to bear the logo of Daniel Defense, “Black Creek, GA” from the text on the receiver. The rifle is equipped with Trijicon-style optics, a tactical weapon light mounted on the lower full-length Picatinny rail, an M-LOK hand guard system, and a Magpul magazine and grip.

Whoever purchased and outfitted this gun knew about guns, or obtained it from someone who knew how to set up an AR-15 in a tactical configuration. Based on documentation of Tamura’s status in Las Vegas, he would have been totally legal to purchase this weapon and its accessories and ammunition. In fact, such a setup is pretty common in many places, especially among gun enthusiasts in Georgia where I live.

What I am trying to communicate is that this was no spur-of-the-moment, buy a gun fresh from the gun store off the shelf, drive across the country and spray bullets in a skyscraper scenario, based on what I see. Tamura seems to have done some level of planning, and is likely to have familiarity with the weapon. But I don’t want to speculate.

The usual political players are making the usual political points about gun violence. I agree that gun violence is awful, out of control, and deadly in America way out of proportion to the rest of the world. But the questions is what can be done to stop sick killers? What can the law do?

It’s early but based on what I see, Tamura was legal to purchase and own his firearm. Efforts to ban the most popular style of semi-automatic rifle in America are likely to face valid constitutional hurdles. But yes, states can limit the size of magazines and restrict or delay the purchase of long guns. I don’t think either measure would have stopped Tamura or saved the lives he took. It might save lives in other scenarios.

Tamura was certainly violating the law bringing his gun across the country. When he entered New Jersey and New York, he was in violation of their gun laws. But what can states do? The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable search and seizure. In the U.S. Supreme Court case City of Indianapolis vs. Edmond, the court ruled that checkpoints to find illegal drugs were unconstitutional. In the absence of a known threat, states cannot set up general checkpoints and roadblocks to enforce firearms possession laws. So New York could not put a checkpoint on the interstate to check (even randomly) cars for illegally possessed guns.

Nevada has a “red flag” gun law, known as an Order for Protection Against High-Risk Behavior, which allows law enforcement to temporarily seize firearms. But that requires a law enforcement officer to file a petition, or a judge to approve an ex parte emergency order. Most cops didn’t know how to use the law, which went into effect in 2020, so the Nevada Attorney General announced enhanced statewide training in April of this year.

Those who have protective orders filed still have their due process rights, and may retain a lawyer and are entitled to a hearing. None of the news reports indicate that such an order or petition had been filed against Tamura. At the time I’m writing this, none of the media sources have reported on the reason Tamura was terminated from his security guard job.

Let’s dispose of discussing sweeping generalities that are impossible to implement. I think anyone who proposes to overturn the Second Amendment is not making a serious argument and should not be taken seriously. There is simply no political support for such a movement. And were even a modification of the law or its implementation, say, by a landmark case in the Supreme Court that allows states to completely ban semiautomatic long guns, put into effect, there would be mass civil disobedience as a response.

In April 2013, Connecticut passed a law called “An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety.” The law defined many semiautomatic long guns as “assault weapons.” It limited magazines to 10 rounds for both handguns and long guns. It required a certificate of eligibility, firearms safety training, and a universal background heck for all gun sales, including ammunition. Federal judges held the law to be constitutional and allowed enforcement, though lawsuits still remain open challenging the law.

Though officials estimated hundreds of thousands of rifles were now classified as “assault weapons,” only 50,000 or so registrations were received by the 2013 deadline, and only 38,000 exemptions for large capacity magazines were submitted. The remainder, likely over 100,000 residents, preferred to be guilty of a Class D felony rather than comply.

In order to force more than token compliance with such laws, states would need to take draconian measures, which would certainly be subject to constitutional challenge (see where I wrote about the Edmond case above), to make the laws have teeth. Look at the problems the Trump administration is having with ICE trying to enforce immigration laws. If state or federal authorities tried something similar with guns laws—even ones like Connecticut which are held to be constitutional under the Second Amendment—you’d begin to see gun sanctuary cities, law enforcement refusing to cooperate, and social media apps that let gun owners know when they’re going to be raided.

Maybe it’s easier to regulate gun manufacturers, like Daniel Defense, to keep them from selling products regulators want to ban. But these companies already comply with the law. They are highly regulated, constantly inspected, and their records need to be immaculate. States can also regulate the retail sale of firearms. But again, there’s tens of millions of long guns and even more handguns already in private hands in America. The only argument to further regulate gun manufacturers is to create a liability so great that they have to shut down. You may as well just legislate them out of existence and make gun manufacture illegal.

Such laws would not survive precedent. In 2017, Teixeira v. County of Alameda, the Ninth Circuit ruled that restricting gun stores would violate the Second Amendment if it functionally eliminates access to firearms in a particular region. The Dormant Commerce Clause, Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, prevents states from discriminating against businesses or creating protectionist barriers, even if it’s for the manufacture of weapons. It would also be challenged under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. And the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling in 2022 establishes a “historical tradition of firearm regulation.” This means banning the manufacture or sale, or taking measures to shut down gun manufacturers by other means, would not pass court scrutiny.

We are left with more practical options. Increasing security around office buildings, malls and public areas is one thing we can do. In countries like Israel, which has no Second Amendment, guns are a fact of life. Many, many Israelis carry their automatic Tavor X95 rifles slung at all times. This is a requirement of the IDF, that soldiers issued a rifle or pistol must either carry it or lock it up in an approved gun safe. All malls, office buildings and other facilities have gun lockers. There are highly-trained and armed security personnel manning the doors of these places. They are not just looking for terrorists (of course, they are), but also there to enforce gun carry laws.

Try unholstering your sidearm or unslinging a long gun in the parking lot outside an Israeli office building (like Intel, or Microsoft). You won’t get far. If you continued trying, you’d likely be shot. In a place like Israel, or even Switzerland, which is soaked in gun culture, Shane Devon Tamura would not have made into the lobby. And in some places in America, like certain churches, or concert halls, Tamura would have been stopped before he killed anyone.

Tamura picked his target probably because he believed he could have the upper hand in eliminating security before they could react. The effect of this will be that building security in New York City and other places will now be more on guard. And maybe AI can be used to detect guns on camera before they enter the building. But we still have shooters in schools, in malls, in stores. We’re not at the place where our culture has adapted to protect those places.

I think the practical answer is to move toward that “gun” culture, even though it’s going to be somewhat expensive. Yes, we would need security at many places that does not have security, like even grocery stores. Yes, we might need to modify entrances, and add gun lockers, and have security people actually ask, “do you have a gun?” as they enter. If there was a security person at the entrance, and a secure gun locker, I’d feel better about locking up my concealed gun knowing that everyone else in the building is doing the same.

We secure courthouses, airports, and other places by checking individuals one by one. Identifying the sick killer who has a gun is an endless game of whack-a-mole. Taking everyone’s guns is an unserious and impossible task. To me, the most practical answer is a commitment to do a better job of practical protection and actually enforcing no-gun zones by more than just signage and voluntary measures. It works in places where there is no Second Amendment, so I think it would work here.

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