On May 11, Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D) signed Senate Bill 941, making the background check Aurora theater gunman James Holmes passed the law of the land in Oregon.
Breitbart News previously reported that Holmes passed background checks for his firearms, then opened fire on Aurora theater-goers during a July 2012 screening of The Dark Knight Rises. He killed 12 and wounded 70 more–after passing his background checks.
Nevertheless, OregonLive reports that when Brown signed SB 941, she said, “We have an obligation to protect Oregonians from gun violence. If we want to keep our kids, schools and communities safe, we must make it harder for dangerous people to get guns.”
Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly lauded the passage of SB 941, although background checks did not stop Giffords’ attacker–Jared Loughner–from acquiring the gun with which he shot her. Loughner passed a background check in late 2010, purchased a pistol, then shot Giffords on January 8, 2011. In addition to wounding her, Loughner wounded 12 others and killed 6–after passing a background check.
And it is important to note that Holmes and Loughner are not the only high-profile attackers to get their guns through background checks. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi (Garland), Jared and Amanda Miller (Las Vegas), Elliot Rodger (Santa Barabara), Ivan Lopez (Fort Hood 2014), Darion Marcus Aguilar (Maryland mall), Karl Halverson Pierson (Arapahoe High School), Paul Ciancia (LAX), Aaron Alexis (DC Navy Yard), Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood 2009), Jiverly Wong (Binghamton), Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), and Naveed Haq (Seattle), among others, all got their guns by passing background checks, as well.
Nonetheless, Giffords applauded Brown for signing SB 941, saying, “Today, Oregon became a safer place to live and joined a growing list of states that have had what Congress has not: the courage to stand up to the gun lobby.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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