(UK) Horden shootings: killer held six gun licences [View all]
The police inquiry into four shootings at a house in a north-east former mining community on New Year's Day is likely to focus on why a man with a previous history of self-harm was allowed to hold six gun licences.
Police investigating the deaths of three women and the man who shot them in Horden, County Durham, before apparently killing himself are expected to focus on why he owned six guns.
Michael Atherton, 42, had licences for the firearms despite police revealing they were told in 2008 that he had threatened to harm himself during what they describe as a "minor" incident.
Atherton shot his partner, Susan McGoldrick, 47, her sister Alison Turnbull, 44, and her niece Tanya Turnbull, 24, late on 1 January after they had returned from a family meal and drink.
full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/03/horden-shootings-killer-gun-licences
And this is in a country that restricts self-defense against burglars and has strict gun laws and low ownership rates.
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