Possible Response to Orlando & Calls to Ban Guns

[goldpelican]

Restricting Rights and Liberties without due process is extremely dangerous stuff.

And we currently (likely never) don't know enough to pass judgment. What was he interviewed by the FBI? What has he done? Has the judicial branch been involved?

The news is stating the FBI interviews were in 2013 and 2014, and in relation to him expressing sympathy for a suicide bomber. His former wife is claiming he was physically abusive. As you likely know though, he would have needed to have had a misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence to have been a prohibited person, which apparently wasn't the case if he was able to pass a couple of NICS checks in the last few weeks for the purchases.

I do feel there is a shortcoming in either the "not eligible to buy" criteria, or in the logic of the process itself, when a NICS check is done on someone like this with previous suspicion. If the FBI previously felt that multiple interviews were required for some social media posts, then surely some followup when the same individual pops up in a NICS check could be justified? In order to prevent infringement of his 2A rights, under the current rule of the land simply being interviewed still wouldn't make him a prohibited person - but triggering a followup interview because of the NICS check would at least gotten the guy back on the radar. Who knows what might have turned up in an interview. "Saw you're buying a gun, well, you know, we're just following up since we last spoke 2 years ago". It's not likely that an interview would have given probable cause to arrest him outright for planning the attack, but I mean, is it such a stretch to ask that we pay a bit more attention to who is buying guns (and what type under section D of the form) if they've previously been the subject of suspicion for this sort of extremism?

 

[Warp]

but I mean, is it such a stretch to ask that we pay a bit more attention to who is buying guns (and what type under section D of the form) if they've previously been the subject of suspicion for this sort of extremism?

What, like "rifle" or "pistol"?

Your suggestion is that all people who have been interviewed by the FBI get put into a list/database, and whenever they buy a gun from a dealer with a NICS check, another interview is conducted?

 

[JohnKSa]

I do feel there is a shortcoming ... is it such a stretch to ask that we pay a bit more attention to who is buying guns...

The guy was a security guard for a juvenile detention facility. He not only passed the background checks to buy the guns, he passed whatever checks his employer put him through.

What more are we going to do? Make people pass a polygraphs while quoting the pledge of allegiance before they can buy a gun?

 

[slumlord44]

I can think of several ways to kill 50 people in a crowded place without a gun. It amazes me that no one had the sense to sneak up behind the guy and cold cock him with a beer bottle while he was busy shooting people? One of the dumbest things I heard on the news coverage was about the Boston Marathon Shooting. Couldn't tell a shooting from a bombing.

 

[Aragon]

There's a flurry of pretty bad legislation in CA that may get a boost now and maybe even sway Guv Brown to sign them. I would also expect to see new bills due to this event. A few other states will likely follow.

I'm not so sure. Like San Bernardino this isn't just a "mass shooting." This is an act of TERRORISM. It will be interesting to see exactly what happens in the political arena.

 

[mboylan]

I doubt it is linked to international terrorism. More like a crazy guy with a gun who hated gays.

 

[hso]

We always have this sort of discussion after these events with the same sort of results -

Don't know

Criminals will always get guns (e.g. Paris attack)

Criminals will use something else (e.g. Boston Bombings)

What we need to remember is that our job before these murders is to introduce as many people as we can to shooting and to the concepts of the right to self defense. To educate and welcome so more people understand that our right to defend ourselves and our loved ones is a basic human right and that all the plans and schemes by Antis don't effectively make any of us any safer and make all of us less capable of protecting ourselves and loved ones.