WAKEFIELD — A bearish man reported for work here yesterday morning with an arsenal of horror for his busy co-workers: three fully loaded firearms that police say he used to kill seven people with chilling calculation. Authorities identified the man as Michael McDermott, 42, an Edgewater Technology Inc. employee charged with seven counts of first-degree murder in what appears to be the worst mass killing in Massachusetts history. The attack might be related to the... (GunPolicy.org)

Massachusetts has some of the nation's toughest gun laws, but for those touched by the deadly shootings in Wakefield yesterday, they apparently were not strict enough. If, as a source close to the investigation said last night, Michael McDermott used an AK-47-style assault rifle to kill seven people, he could have legally bought it at one of the state's 500 licensed gun dealers provided he had the proper license. It was not clear last night if McDermott had such a... (GunPolicy.org)

It became a familiar scene during the election campaign. Charlton Heston, stumping the country as President of the National Rifle Association, would hold a long-barrelled gun in one hand high above his head. Then, in the same tones that he used in Hollywood biblical sagas, he would declare, his voice rising: "From my cold, dead hands, Mr Gore." His audience, composed of people who oppose gun control, would go predictably wild with applause and cheering at the idea... (GunPolicy.org)

In November 1999 two people were killed and two others wounded when a man opened fire at a shipyard office in Seattle, Washington. Earlier that month 40-year-old Byran Uyesugi, a disgruntled Xerox corporation worker, killed seven people in Honolulu, Hawaii. In September 1999 three people were shot dead at a hospital in Anaheim, California by Dung Trinh. Police said he was angry about his mother's death. On 5 August the same year three people were killed in Pelham,... (GunPolicy.org)

Michael McDermott didn't have a valid permit for a single gun, but he was able to obtain a ferocious arsenal that he allegedly used to kill seven co-workers Tuesday in Wakefield, Mass. That has officials wondering where the arms came from, and if tighter laws might have prevented the slaughter. "It's very easy to obtain weapons," District Attorney Martha Coakley said today after McDermott was arraigned on seven counts of murder. "This is part of this investigation,... (GunPolicy.org)

AURORA — A Christmas Eve shooting was apparently the result of a bizarre stunt that went awry when a man tried to blast a plastic cup off the head of an acquaintance. The gunman hit the victim in the forehead, killing him almost instantly, detectives concluded Tuesday. "I have never seen anything like this in my 16-year law enforcement career," said Sgt. Dan Mark. Manuel Dominguez-Quintero, 22, of Aurora died Sunday evening during a gathering of family and... (GunPolicy.org)

BOSTON — The slayings of seven people at an Internet company has prompted calls for restricted weapons access in a state that already has the toughest gun laws in the country. Michael McDermott, 42, allegedly gunned down employees at Edgewater Technology Inc. in Wakefield with a semiautomatic rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun prosecutors say he didn't have permits for. While authorities say they are not sure how McDermott obtained the weapons, some lawmakers are already... (GunPolicy.org)

MALDEN — A software engineer who allegedly gunned down seven co-workers at an Internet company near Boston methodically targeted his victims in a premeditated killing spree, prosecutors said on Wednesday. Michael McDermott, 42, a burly man with a wild mop of hair and an untamed beard who called himself "Mucko," calmly scanned the crowded courtroom during his arraignment on seven charges of first-degree murder. Under tight security, he was escorted into court wearing... (GunPolicy.org)