Captured New York City and New Jersey bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami was “not on a U.S. terror watch list” nor a list maintained by the NYPD.
Although Rahami is suspected of ties to a bombing — rather than a firearm-based attack — it is worth noting that his alleged example represents a larger, consistent pattern of attackers who would not be stopped by the inclusion of terror watch lists and/or no-fly lists in gun control. In this way, Rahami is reminiscent of the gunman who killed 49 during the June 12 Orlando terror attack and the terrorists who killed 14 in San Bernardino, as none of these attackers were on a terror watch list.
According to ABC 7, Rahami was taken into custody after a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey.
Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said:
At approximately 10:30 this morning, the owner of one of the establishments in town reported that there was an individual sleeping in his hallway. One of our police officers went to investigate, to wake him up, and realized that he was the suspect that has been sought in the other bombings that had occurred prior… He realized it was the suspect, and within moments, the suspect had fired on him. And thank God that he had his vest on. I think that saved his life.
CNBC reported that “the FBI said that Rahami was not on a U.S. terrorist watch list or NYPD list.” Therefore, although there has been no announcement on how Rahami obtained the gun he used to shoot at police, it is certain that adding the terror watch list to background checks would not have prevented him from obtaining one. Just as it would not have prevented the Orlando attacker and the San Bernardino attackers from obtaining the guns they used.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.