Jonathan Pring of Phoenix, Arizona, handed over a pistol and rifle to police after the Las Vegas shooting, but his Facebook post on his choice drew death threats.
When Jonathan Pring, a Phoenix, Ariz., coffee shop owner, saw the news about the mass shooting last Sunday night in Las Vegas, he felt he had to do something.
“I would hate for that to happen to my family, and it suddenly made me think how ridiculous this whole gun debate is in America,” Pring told KPNX.
A man shooting from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino killed 59 people and wounded 515 more during a Jason Aldean performance at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival on Oct. 1. The suspected gunman, identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, killed himself as police stormed his hotel room, police say. Authorities said he had at least 10 rifles in the hotel room.
After thinking it over, Pring, who is from England but holds dual U. S./British citizenship, phoned Phoenix police Tuesday and arranged to hand over his Walther Arms PK380 and Ruger 10/22 tactical rifle. Police in Phoenix, like most communities, accept legal firearms that people no longer wish to own, reports The Arizona Republic.
Pring documented the handover on Facebook with photos and a post.
“That clever old Indian Gandhi once said ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ ” he wrote. “Small steps really can make a difference and we can all do small steps, even babies.”
Pring added on the post that he would miss his guns but hoped his actions would inspire others.
The initial responses to his Facebook post were positive, Pring wrote Thursday in a follow-up post. Then things took an ugly turn.
“I received several hundred messages, emails & texts. Some very lovely and supportive. Most were mean,” Pring wrote in his follow-up. “Very few offered any alternative solutions to the problem.”
His original post was shared to numerous pro-gun sites.
“At 2000+ shares I reluctantly deleted the post because people started posting my address online & threatening my family,” Pring wrote in his follow-up. He took his family out of town for a few days. “I’m not sure what happens now,” he wrote. “I don’t feel quite at home here as I have over the last decade.”
The Phoenix New Times posted some of the responses to Pring’s initial post. “Someone needs to go shoot this idiot and make him wish he could have defended himself,” wrote one commenter, the paper said. “They need to send his ass packing back to Britain,” wrote another.
In a later addition to his post, Pring wrote that, on reflection, he should not have said that nobody should own firearms, but he defended his choice to hand over his guns. He also addressed the threats he had received.
“Many of the negative comments I received mentioned the ‘bad guys,’ ” Pring wrote. “I ask you, if you are the person sending me threatening and hateful messages simply for expressing my 1st Amendment rights, perhaps it is you who is the bad guy?”
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