Marie Moore thought she was the Anti-Christ. "God" apparently instructed her to murder her son. She obliged at the Shoot Straight range in Cassleberry, Florida, where she and her son Mitchell had gone for an afternoon's target practice.
When Mitchell was taking aim, his mother came up behind him and shot him in the head at point-blank range. The scenes were captured by a security camera.
Prior to the murder Moore made an audio recording in which she said that she was going to kill her son to save the world from violence. A voice in her head belonging to "God" said - "You have a gun. You can do it."
On the tape she said: 'God's turned me into the Anti-Christ... I'm a good person, but the Devil and God turned me into the worst person in the world. I'm so ashamed. And I'm so afraid. And I'll pay forever and ever.'
After killing her son, she turned the gun on herself.
Moore had a history of mental illness. According to her ex-husband she had been banned from the Shoot Straight range after trying to commit suicide there. An attorney for the range denies this is true.
She had two convictions for driving under-the-influence which should have disqualified her from handling weapons.
In recent weeks in the US one gun tragedy after another has been hitting the news. In most cases the shooters were registered gun owners.
Gun advocates say there is no way to stop crazy people doing crazy things and guns aren't the issue. This is just a self-serving defense. Guns are definitely the issue. If Jiverly Wong who mowed down 13 immigrants in Binghamton had been armed with a bowie knife or even an ax, he wouldn't have done a fraction of the damage and chances are good he would have been apprehended before he got far. Guns embolden and empower the users as no other weapon can. Toting a 9mm and .45 calibre handgun, Wong felt as though he was in control.
Jiverly Wong: Binghamton
shooter's permit
There are roughly 280 million guns in America. Saying it isn't about guns is a cop-out. Not every shooter is a 'crazy'. Easy access to a handgun or rifle prompts acts of desperation by parents at the end of their rope and by employees who want to settle scores. The vast majority of these deaths would have been much less likely if there hadn't been a legal handgun within easy reach.
Hundreds of people, a percentage of them children, will die in the coming months and years at the hands of rampaging gun owners with permits. In every other situation when you know a disaster is going to strike involving loss of innocent lives you take remedial action. But when it comes to guns and the human toll that keeps mounting with every passing year, a lot of Americans have a blind spot. It seems that random slaughter is something they are prepared to live with just so long as nobody interferes with the 'sacred' right of gun ownership.
