UC Santa Barbara Rampage Prompts Gun-Control Fury At California Capitol
TURLOCK (CBS13) — The deadly rampage near the UC Santa Barbara campus that left seven dead has ignited a flurry of new gun control legislation at the Capitol.
Lawmakers are rushing to pass new gun control and mental-health bills in the wake of the killing spree.
The suspect's alleged rampage is hitting a Turlock home particularly hard, as it's the family home of a UCSB student who happened to be in the sorority the suspect targeted in his manifesto.
Bill Anderson isn't sure any state laws will help protect his daughter more.
"Couldn't imagine being a parent who lost their child, but then again when you read the manifesto and see what his intentions were you can see yourself being in that position and I think that's the most frightening part," he said.
His daughter is OK, and so so are all of the members of the Delta Phi sorority the suspect says he stalked and planned to massacre.
"Fortunately for the girls at the home they didn't answer the door which is really what saved them," he sad.
Instead, the suspect went on a rampage in his own apartment, then on the Isla Vista streets, using guns, knives and his car as deadly weapons.
State lawmakers, pointing to the suspect's ability to convince deputies a month earlier during a welfare check he was OK, are proposing new rules to keep the mentally ill away from guns.
"How do we stop this before it happens?" said Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara). "This was a young man whose mental illness was right out there on YouTube and right out there on Facebook and in screens that he posted on blogs."
Proposed rules ranged from increased officer training, to allowing gun searches during welfare checks, and granting family and friend requests for gun violence restraining orders.
Gun rights advocates like Craig DeLuz with the California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees warn of politics at play.
"We don't want emotion to drive our legislation or our determination, we want it to be the facts and we want to do what's in the best interest of our citizens," he said.
Anderson is a gun owner himself, and even his daughter's close call hasn't changed his stance on gun laws.
The only certainty he knows is how grateful he is he gets another chance to see his girl again.
"If you knew my daughter, she's like the most kind person with the biggest heart, and so I'll be very happy to see her," he said.
If the proposals become law, California would become the first state in the nation with a gun violence restraining order system.
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