Texas shooter evaded background check by purchasing weapon in private sale

[PSPS]

Source: CBS

September 3, 2019 / 7:15 PM / CBS/AP

The 36-year-old gunman who killed seven people and wounded 22 others in West Texas on Saturday purchased his AR-style rifle from a private seller, federal law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News. The purchase allowed the gunman to evade a federal background check. Sources also say the gunman was previously denied a gun purchase because he was determined to be mentally unfit.

The investigation into who sold the weapon is ongoing. Authorities said the gunman was killed by officers outside a busy movie theater in Odessa. It was at least the 38th mass killing this year.

Online court records show the gunman, identified as Seth Aaron Ator, was arrested in 2001 for a misdemeanor offense that would not have prevented him from legally purchasing firearms in Texas. Federal law defines nine categories that would legally prevent a person from owning a gun, which include being convicted of a felony, a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, being adjudicated as a "mental defect" or committed to a mental institution, the subject of a restraining order or having an active warrant. Authorities have said Ator had no active warrants at the time of the shooting.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-shooter-purchased-assault-style-weapon-in-private-sale-evaded-background-check-2019-09-03/

[Voltaire2]

1. There are loopholes? Who knew?

[brer cat]

3. There are holes big enough for a battleship to go through.

Around where I live, guns are sold in yard sales. Unbelievable.

[IronLionZion]

10. NRA made sure of it

Their answer to everything is always more guns. Doesn't matter to them who gets it or what they do with it.

[Hoyt]

2. All gun transfers should go through one who owns a Federal Firearms License.

And fine the hell out of any gun profiteer who sells guns otherwise.

Nope, won’t be 100% effective, but it’ll help.

[MichMan]

4. So which one is it?

"Sources also say the gunman was previously denied a gun purchase because he was determined to be mentally unfit."

"Online court records show the gunman, identified as Seth Aaron Ator, was arrested in 2001 for a misdemeanor offense that would not have prevented him from legally purchasing firearms in Texas. Federal law defines nine categories that would legally prevent a person from owning a gun, which include being convicted of a felony, a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, being adjudicated as a "mental defect" or committed to a mental institution, the subject of a restraining order or having an active warrant. Authorities have said Ator had no active warrants at the time of the shooting."

[NickB79]

5. All background check denials should be investigated by the ATF

If you lie on the background check, that in itself is a felony. As it is, they are almost never looked into. There are potentially tens of thousands of felons out there today we have a solid paper trail to nail.

We don't even need to pass new laws for this! Just fund the ATF more thoroughly. Gun nuts say "enforce the laws we have"; do it.

Of course, we should also add universal background checks to close the private sale loophole.

[GulfCoast66]

6. Which means the person who sold him the gun, unless told he was not eligible to own one

Will have no charges against him.

Yeah, that a good system

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. And Trump's answer to this is to tweet

Last edited Wed Sep 4, 2019, 09:08 AM - Edit history (1)

....”knife crime,” which is totally out of control in London. People are afraid to even walk the streets. He is a terrible mayor who should stay out of our business!"

Link to tweet

I think Wayne LaPierre has Trump's private number to feed the proper talking points. Tomorrow he will blame mental illness again.

[ManiacJoe]

8. What are the odds on the illegal sale not being prosecuted?

Unfortunately, they are probably quite high.

[yaesu]

9. Another interesting fact, anyone with a credit card, criminals, felons, can legally purchase

antique handguns, many capable of firing modern ammunition, through online auction houses and have them shipped right to their door. Pre-1899 firearms are exempt from the FFL Federal requirement & in most states and are not legally considered firearms. Basically treated as bb guns.

[MichMan]

11. I really doubt that antique guns are ever used in shootings

by someone who wasn't legally allowed to buy a gun otherwise

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Pretty sure there's no chance of a drive-by with my Savage .303 model 1889, with a rotary drum

(5 shot) that they stopped making ammo for in the 1920's, so I have to hand-make rounds, at a rough cost, brass included, of $20 a shot.

I'm trying to think of a black powder rifle from that era that isn't bolt-action, and I'm coming up empty. Someone help me out.

[sir pball]

16. Winchester lever-actions

Heck, the 1895 was designed for modern smokeless rounds.

[AtheistCrusader]

17. Still not picturing a lever action in a drive-by but I suppose stranger things have happened.

Edit: (Ah, 'that isn't bolt action'. You are correct. Mostly equivalent to bolt action for cyclic speed though.)

[sir pball]

18. Lever actions are significantly faster than bolt actions

Not as fast as a semiautomatics or pumps, but definitely quite a bit faster than a bolt, you don't really need to do anything other than jack your wrist back and forth to reload.

S'why I'm in favor of limiting box magazines to just a few rounds, a levergun or pump rifle with an AR-style magazine would be pretty damned lethal.

[jmowreader]

20. You've never seen The Rifleman?

Old Western TV show.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Sure, but if you counter-rotate your wrists, you can snap off shots with a bolt action with

startling speed as well.

[rickyhall]

12. Can civil action be taken?

Sue seller into bankruptcy?

[hack89]

13. You have to prove the seller had knowledge that the buyer could not own legally guns

which may be hard if the seller did not know the buyer beforehand.

[MissMillie]

15. It's illegal for a private person to sell me a bottle of booze...

I'm just saying.

[AtheistCrusader]

19. Not after the state has its cut of the liquor tax.

Presumably the excise and other taxes specific to firearms were paid somewhere along the line before this rifle was transferred to the murderous nutbag.