College Professor Who Shot Himself Also Says He Wants to Ban AR-15s

Published September 19, 2018 Updated September 29, 2018

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By Dan Zimmerman via TTAG

Last week, a deranged sociology professor at the College of Central Nevada shot himself in the arm in a campus bathroom because, he said, he wanted to protest the existence of the Trump administration. He was charged with a variety of felonies and has since been banned from the campus.

But according to an apology letter he wrote that was obtained by Blue Lives Matter, 69-year-old Mark Bird was motivated by more than just the deplorable 45th president. Bird was also upset by a variety of societal ills including, naturally, civilian ownership of AR-15 rifles.

I sincerely apologize for my behavior today. I was motivated by multiple reasons. A major reason is, derivative of the following October 20, 2017 CBS news story, the Earth had roughly 100 million malnutrition and pollution deaths in the past decade — and the Earth is on a course for at least another 100 million such deaths in the next decade. One hundred million deaths are more than all the military and civilian deaths of [World War II].

A less significant motivation relates to the October 1, 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting from the Mandalay Hotel that killed 58 people. Since this incident, there has been no national legislation banning bump stocks, banning civilian ownership of AR-15 type assault weapons, and the passage of universal gun background checks legislation. Apparently it is about as easy to buy an AR-15 as a 2-shot derringer.

I have sent a longer essay on my motivations to Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson and others.

Bird mentioned the Derringer in his apology because that’s the gun he used to blow the hole in his arm.

He told police that he had brought the gun to the college to shoot himself because he was unsure of how much blood he would lose, and he knew he would get medical assistance in the campus building. He said the College of Southern Nevada police “would not allow him to die.”

Bird told Officer Summerlin that he had purchased the gun to shoot himself about two months earlier, and that he only bought two rounds of ammunition because he only needed to fire the gun once.

There’s no word as to whether the professor will have to undergo a court-mandated psychiatric evaluation, but that might be a really good idea.