Yesterday, Gary Montez Martin opened fire at a manufacturing facility in Aurora, Illinois. He murdered five people and wounded several police officers before he shot and killed by law enforcement. The latest update is that Martin shouldn’t have been allowed to own his firearm. He purchased a Smith and Wesson .40 caliber handgun in 2014 but was later discovered to have been convicted of an aggravated assault charge back in 1995 when he tried to apply for a concealed carry permit. As a result, he should have turned his firearm over to authorities. He didn’t (via NBC News):
Gary Montez Martin, the man who opened fire inside a manufacturing company in Aurora, Illinois, legally should not have been in possession of a firearm, police said on Saturday.
On Friday, Martin, who had been an employee of the Henry Pratt Co. for 15 years, opened fire at a meeting during which he was being terminated from his job, according to Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman.
[…]
On Saturday, Ziman said that Martin, 45, purchased a handgun on March 6, 2014, after being issued an Illinois Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) Card in January of that year. The firearm, a Smith and Wesson .40 caliber, was in Martin's possession as of March 11, 2014.
The FOID card application process includes a background check, but applicants are not fingerprinted, Ziman said
It was only when Martin applied for a concealed carry permit on March 16, 2014, that he was fingerprinted and it was revealed he had a 1995 felony conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi.
Ziman said that upon the discovery of this conviction, Martin's concealed carry permit was rejected and his FOID card was revoked
"Absolutely he was not supposed to be in possession of a firearm," Ziman said.
Chief Ziman added that Martin was mailed a letter noting that his FOID card had been revoked due to the felony charge and that he was required to turn over his handgun to police. Was there a follow-up? That remains to be seen. So, once again we have another instance where the gun control laws already in place weren’t enforced.
This looks like this was a preventable shooting. We’ll keep you updated, but before the anti-gun Left clamors for new restrictions that chip away at our constitutional rights, just remember—the laws already on the books should have kept firearms away from this man. And once again law enforcement appeared to drop the ball. As they had when it came to shooter Dylann Roof in South Carolina and Devin Patrick Kelley in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
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