After Tehama mass shooting, this gun enthusiast smashed his AR-15 assault weapon
One Southern California gun enthusiast decided he had to do his part to put a stop to mass shootings.
How?
By destroying his prized AR-15 assault weapon with a sledge hammer, according to KMIR.
I challenge anyone anywhere to destroy their personally owned assault weapons . Barrel needs to be cut twice and the bolt carrier group / receiver must be cut and smashed as well . Every decommissioned assault rifle destroyed .. is one that cannot fall into the wrong hands . I know many people are safe gun owners / handlers . But no one is 100 percent theft / loss proof . I personally Am keeping a shotgun , for home defense . In reasonable accord with constitutional rights/ 2nd amendment .. but my right to bear arms . Should not infringe on anyone’s rights to peacefully assemble , worship , go to school and just plain go about their life without fear.. Of random mass murders by a single individual . #notwiththisgun
Posted by Chad Vachter on Friday, November 17, 2017
“I can’t do it,” Chad Vachter said. “I can’t have something in my house that so easily could become a part of another situation like that, and I’m not going to be desensitized to it. I refuse to.”
Vachter, of Riverside County, first noticed his feelings toward the weapon changing after the San Bernardino, Calif., attack that killed 14 people at the Inland Regional Center in 2015. His son was being treated for autism there, KMIR reports.
“So when my son is old enough to realize that someone went in there and shot up that place, and he sees that gun in my possession and asks me, ‘Why do you have that, Daddy?’ I don’t have a good answer,” Vachter told KMIR.
Then, last month, 58 people died in the Las Vegas shooting at an outdoor music festival, and 26 people were killed this month in a church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
The final straw for Vachter was the Rancho Tehama, Calif., shooting last week that killed five, according to WKRG.com. It hit too close to home.
“The other night, when I read the thing about the school in Northern California, I cried and I haven’t felt good since,” he said. “And although I’m still sad for all those victims and all the people affected, I feel like I’ve done the only thing that I can do in this equation.”
Vachter made it clear that he still supports the Second Amendment and owns a shotgun and pistol, KMIR reports. But he hopes to inspire other gun owners to get rid of their assault weapons, according to KPRC 2, and has even come up with a hashtag: #NotWithThisGun.
“I challenge anyone anywhere to destroy their personally owned assault weapons,” Vachter said on Facebook. “... Every decommissioned assault rifle destroyed .. is one that cannot fall into the wrong hands.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 8:50 AM with the headline "After Tehama mass shooting, this gun enthusiast smashed his AR-15 assault weapon."