Nicholas Elliot, barely sixteen, walked into the Atlantic Shores Christian School, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with a semi-automatic handgun hidden in his backpack. By midmorning a forty-one year-old teacher had been shot dead, and another teacher, struck by two nine-millimeter bullets, was extraordinarily lucky to be alive. Two other teachers narrowly escaped Nicholas Elliot’s bullets. One found herself running a zigzag pattern through the school yard as Nicholas fired round after round at her back. The other, a man who tackled Nicholas and in the process saved the lives of a roomful of crying and praying teenagers, felt a bullet breeze past his head.

According to the trial testimony, Elliott entered the store with his cousin and indicated an interest in several handguns. Elliott then picked out the MAC-11 and had a lengthy discussion with the sales clerk about its features. Within a few feet of the clerk, Elliott handed $281 to his cousin, walked over to the display case, pointed to the MAC-11 and told the clerk, “that’s the one I want.” His cousin then paid for the gun and filled out the federal form as the buyer of the gun. Nicholas Elliott left the store with the pistol in hand.