Stockton massacre

The Stockton Massacre refers to the killing of five schoolchildren in Stockton, California on January 17, 1989.

On that date, an unknown person phoned the Stockton Police and warned of a death threat against Cleveland Elementary School. Later that day, Patrick Purdy, a disturbed drifter and former Stockton resident, opened fire on the school playground with a Chinese-made Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, killing five children and wounding twenty-nine others and a teacher. The fatalities, Raphanar Or (9), Ran Chun (8), Sokhim An (6), Oeun Lim (8) and Thuy Tran (6), were all Cambodian immigrants, except for Tran who was born in Vietnam. Purdy, who had carved the words "freedom", "victory", and "Hezbollah" on his weapon, and "PLO", "Libya", and "death to the Great Satin" (sic) on his flak jacket, then took his own life by shooting himself in the head with a pistol.

Repercussions
The multiple murders at Stockton received national news coverage and spurred calls for regulation of semi-automatic weapons. "Why could Purdy, an alcoholic who had been arrested for such offenses as selling weapons and attempted robbery, walk into a gun shop in Sandy, Oregon, and leave with an AK-47 under his arm?" Time magazine asked, either ignorant of the fact that the weapon used was not an AK-47 or intentionally deceptive. They continued, "The easy availability of weapons like this, which have no purpose other than killing human beings, can all too readily turn the delusions of sick gunmen into tragic nightmares." Purdy was able to purchase the weapons because the judicial system had not convicted him of any crime that prevented him from purchasing firearms.

In California, measures were taken to first define and then ban assault weapons, resulting in the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Act. On the Federal level, Congress struggled with a way to ban weapons like Purdy's military-style semi-automatic rifle without also including semi-automatic hunting rifles. In the end, Congress defined "assault weapons" as semi-automatic weapons with certain military-style secondary features such as flash suppressors, bayonet lugs, and pistol grips. These were banned in the Federal assault weapons ban, enacted in 1994, which expired in 2004. President George H. W. Bush signed an executive order banning importation of assault weapons in 1989. President Bill Clinton signed another executive order in 1994 which banned importation of most firearms and ammunition from China.