On August 28 The Washington Post (WaPo) reported that “every one of the country’s mass shooters since January 2009 could have slipped through NICS” (National Instant Criminal Background Check System).
Such statements are part of a larger push for gun control that has temporarily moved from expanding background checks to discrediting, then revamping, our current NICS background check system.
WaPo got this information from “a July 2014 study by [Michael Bloomberg’s] Everytown for Gun Safety.”
The biggest problem with claiming that “every… mass shooter since January 2009” could have passed a NICS background check is that the claim is false, and demonstrably so.
For example, Jared Padgett – the Reynolds High School gunman (June 10, 2014) – could not have passed a NICS background check because of his age alone. Padgett was only fifteen years old.
So he stole his guns.
Sandy Hook Elementary gunman Adam Lanza (December 14, 2012) did not pass a combined state/federal NICS background check. So he stole his guns too.
It is important to note that Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), the author of the Senate’s failed expanded background check legislation, even admitted that his expanded background check bill would not have stopped the Sandy Hook gunman.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.