2012-07-24, 10:00 AM
Worthyness Wrote:Even with a background check, this guy would have been plenty able to obtain the weaponry he got. He had no record with crime, he was a PH D student (hell he was the perfect student) and no notable mental illness as diagnosed by any doctor. The only thing they could have got him on would have been him being anti-social and quiet. Besides that, he was basically the every day normal guy. So if a case liek this ever happened again, a background check wouldn't really help in any circumstance because the guy appears to be completely "sane" and "normal". However, had people tracked his ordering history, we'd have seen that the guy had bought most of his guns and ammo within the last two months, which, for a person with no gun ownership history or involvement with the sport of hunting, would make his purchases extremely suspicious (i.e. why would a guy, with no record or remote interest in guns, all of a sudden order 3-4 high powered weapons and cases of ammo all within 2 months?). Now that's not to say that tracking orders would be 100% accurate, but it's a way to control weapons and make sure nothing liek this happens again. Also include the fact that people apparently don't background check over the internet anyway, so it's not like they would have done anything about it then (many legislators have also tried to make gun purchases face-to-face only, but have failed). Also doesn't help the guy had a near zero internet foot print to background check either. Also add to the fact that his guns an ammo were all legally obtained across states and you have a fricken scary realization that any dude who wants to do so could potentially just get as many guns and ammo he wants as long as he lives in state where they have loose gun control laws and he buys via the internet.
Getting a full on ban on guns would not be viable at all in this country, but if other states embraced similar legislation to the laws in California, for example, then it would be much harder for people to come about assault rifles and high powered weaponry. I believe the country had a country-wide ban on assault rifles and other high powered weaponry a few years ago, but it expired during Obama's administration and he has not yet tried (maybe? dunno) to get it into congress/the senate. Unfortunately, many states do not react in the same way as California and haven't tried to re-establish the gun control on high powered weapons. Apparently, this issue hasn't been a severe issue lately in the state or federal government. Perhaps now they'll all go back and examine the legislation now.
Duly noted. But I think that the mere fact that he was able to obtain such a large amount of weaponry is inexcusable. There has to be a limit as to how much/what you can get at a time based on whether your occupation demands it or not (occupation and proof of occupation should 100% be part of background check regardless of merit, character, crime history). Being allowed to get a shitload of guns simply for recreational purposes is not a justifiable nor viable reason.