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Prof who shot himself on campus to protest Trump apologizes, now says he did it to ban AR-15s
The professor who shot himself in the arm to protest Trump now says that he did it to protest AR-15s. (Metro Nashville Police Department via Getty Images)

Prof who shot himself on campus to protest Trump apologizes, now says he did it to ban AR-15s

Mark Bird, the professor who shot himself in the arm in a university bathroom in protest of President Donald Trump, now says that he actually did it because he wants to ban AR-15s, among other issues.

What's the history here?

Bird, a 69-year-old emeritus sociology professor at the College of Southern Nevada, shot himself in the arm on the second day of classes at the college.

After discovering Bird bleeding outside of a bathroom campus, police said that Bird fired the self-inflicted shot to his arm in protest of Trump and his administration's policies. He had also taped a $100 bill to the bathroom's mirror for the janitor to apparently compensate for the bloody mess he made inside the facility.

The president of the school's faculty union issued a statement condemning the way the university handled the incident.

“They never really told the students much about it except that it was resolved on the actual day of the shooting,” Robert Manis told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in a statement. “When you don’t give the full details, then rumors go crazy. It’s unfortunate because it made the students and faculty very afraid and allowed rumors to proliferate.”

Police charged Bird with "discharging a gun within a prohibited structure, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and possessing a dangerous weapon on school property."

Bird was sent to the Clark County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond and has also been banned from returning to the campus.

What's happening now?

Bird has apologized for the incident, and in letters obtained by Blue Lives Matter has said that he has myriad concerns about gun control, the president, malnutrition, and pollution.

One such letter read:

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 [D]erringer.

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

Bird sent the above letter to the school's president, Federico Zaragoza, and its vice president, Margo Martin.

According to the outlet, police discovered a .22 Derringer two-shot pistol at the scene.

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