L.A. Times story continued:

    In 1995, Northern California lawmakers discussed strengthening
rental regulations after a mentally ill man fatally shot another man
before killing himself with a rented gun at a range in Stockton. Five
others committed suicide at Bay Area ranges over the next year and a
half, but the reform effort went nowhere. More than half of the suicides
in California are by firearms.
    Gun sellers must complete background checks, which can take up to 10
days, on prospective buyers. Ranges are left to devise their own
policies. There are 1,835 ranges registered with the National Rifle
Assn., 142 of them in California.
    Members of the NRA and Gun Owners of California vigorously oppose
tougher rental rules, citing their constitutional right to bear arms.
    "The problem with background checks is that it takes a fair amount
of time to do them," said Merrill Gibson, a Los Angeles-based gun rights
advocate. "Sometimes people really need to practice with a firearm . . .
I don't think [strictures] would save anyone, but would decrease the
number of people who would practice for possible purchase later."
    Area range owners insist they do everything they can to prevent
suicides. Davis, the Agoura Hills range owner, considers formal
background checks unreasonable. He says he requires first-time customers
to complete a brief questionnaire and wait a week before they are
allowed to rent a gun.
    Bobby Prince filled out that form three months before his July 15
death. The last of the eight questions asked: Do you have a history of
mental illness? Prince checked no.
    His parents say he never acknowledged his mental illness and instead
accused everyone around him of being ill and out to get him. In 1998,
they said, he was burned over 40% of his body after he became convinced
that the federal government had rendered natural gas nonexplosive. He
turned on the gas in his mobile home, lighted a cigarette and blew off
the roof.
    Davis, 65, says Prince's parents could have called the range to warn
him that their son was ill.
    "Obviously he had a problem," Davis said. "He was 31 years old and
didn't know where he was going in life. . . . I wish I could be of help
in some way to stop this. It's a total waste of someone's life."
     The photos on the Princes' dining room table--of a boy with
butternut hair and freckles holding up a fish, of a teenager standing
stiffly in a tuxedo, ready for his high school prom--held promises of a
happier life.
     Lt. Jim Glazer, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's
Lost Hills station, said he spoke with Agoura Hills officials about
meeting with the council and Davis to discuss possible restrictions at
the range.
     "I think we can come up with some policies that will make it more
difficult for someone to commit such a tragic act at that location,"
Glazer said.
     Prince's parents said they never really understood how their son
felt until they found the Bible he had left behind. It opened to a
haunting passage marked with a star--Psalm 31. It read in part:
     Terror is all around me.
     They are making plans against me, plotting to kill me.
     But my trust is in you, O Lord . . . save me from my enemies.

  
 

I didnt know there was a suicide at Jim's range last year?  I knew of the one two years ago before Jim took over the Agoura range.  I guess theres more than one bloodstain on the carpet now.

Anyways, the parents essentially argue that it is the range's fault that their mentally ill son is dead.  Well... the idiot tried to blow himself up once before, nothing is going to stop him from killing himself. How typical of liberals to shift the blame everyone else.

Also the range had the guy fill out a form and wait a week before he could rent a gun. IMO the range made all reasonable precautions to prevent the suicide.

Finally, their son said he was going out to buy cigarettes before he blew himself away.  Well, heck isnt smoking a form of suicide?? Why dont they get their panties in a bind over that?

Bush Hamster, I answered under the first of my two posts.  Check it out.  

Just wondering. Where is this range located?

Thanks.