UNLV Attacker Used Legally Purchased 9mm Handgun

Police have confirmed a legally purchased 9mm handgun was used by the attacker in Wednesday’s University of Nevada, Las Vegas, mass shooting.

CNN noted that Las Vegas Metro Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill indicated the handgun, a Taurus PT92 pistol, was purchased legally by the 67-year-old suspect in Las Vegas roughly 18 months ago.

When law enforcement indicates a firearm was purchased legally, they are indicating it was purchased at retail via a background check.

Breitbart News has repeatedly shown that the majority of high profile shooters during the past 16 or 17 years have acquired their guns via background checks. Yet Democrats, like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Chris Murphy, and President Joe Biden, continue to push more background checks as a solution to high profile shootings.

Below is a short list of some of the high profile attackers who got their guns via background checks:

• Louisville Old National Bank attacker (April 10, 2023)
• Nashville Christian school attacker (March 27, 2023)
• Uvalde School attacker (May 24, 2022)
• Buffalo grocery attacker (May 14, 2022)
• Indianapolis FedEx attacker (April 15, 2021)
• Atlanta-area attacker (March 16, 2021)
• Parkland high school attacker (February 14, 2018)
• Texas church attacker (November 5, 2017)
• Las Vegas attacker (October 1, 2017)
• Alexandria attacker (June 14, 2017)
• Orlando attacker (June 12, 2016)
• UCLA gunman (June 1, 2016)
• San Bernardino attackers (December 2, 2015)
• Colorado Springs attacker (October 31, 2015)
• Umpqua Community College attacker (October 1, 2015)
• Alison Parker’s attacker (August 26, 2015)
• Lafayette movie theater attacker (July 23, 2015)
• Chattanooga attacker (July 16, 2015)
• Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal attacker (Jun 17, 2015)
• Muhammad Cartoon Contest attackers (May 3, 2014)
• Las Vegas cop killers (June 9, 2015)
• Santa Barbara attacker (May 23, 2014)
• Fort Hood attacker (April 2, 2014)
• Arapahoe High School attacker (December 13, 2013)
• D.C. Navy Yard attacker (September 16, 2013)
• Aurora movie theater attacker (July 20, 2012)
• Gabby Giffords’ attacker (January 8, 2011)
• Fort Hood attacker (November 5, 2009)
• Northern Illinois University attacker (February 14, 2008)
• Virginia Tech attacker (April 16, 2007)

While scanning the above list, it is readily apparent that some of the attacks being used to push for background checks were actually ones in which the attacker acquired his gun(s) via such checks.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.