The US, which has less than five per cent of the world’s population, has between 35 to 50 per cent of the world’s civilian-owned guns. America also has the highest homicide-by-firearm rate among the world’s most developed nations.
17 people have been killed in Florida after a gunman opened fire on a local high school.Police say the suspect is 19-year-old Nikolas Cruzwho was expelled from high school for disciplinary problems.
He was taken into custody shortly after the shooting.The gunman, armed with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, a gas mask, smoke grenades and “multiple magazines” of ammunition entered the school and continued his rampage.
President Trump addressed the nation Thursday morning on the shooting that happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, denouncing the “terrible violence, hatred and evil” of the attack and promising to visit Parkland.
The AR-15 used in the mass shooting was legally bought by Cruz, attorney Jim Lewis told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Cruz already owned the gun when he moved in with his friend’s family in northwest Broward around Thanksgiving, Lewis said. “It was his gun,” Lewis said. “The family made him keep it in a locked gun cabinet in the house but he had a key.”
Law enforcement sources said the suspect used a .223 caliber, AR-15 style firearm in the shooting.Florida Governor Rick Scott ordered government flags flown at half-staff through Monday in honor of victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
