On November 28, one day after Robert Lewis Dear opened fire in a Planned Parenthood clinic, NBC News reported that there nothing “apparent” in his background to prevent him acquiring a firearm, and this includes the absence of a “previous mental health issue.”
NBC News cited an anonymous source confirming “there would have been nothing apparent in Dear’s background — including a felony conviction or previous mental health issue — that would have disqualified him from buying an AK-47 style…rifle used in the shootings.”
Breitbart News previously reported that Dear had been arrested for various crimes in the states of South Carolina and North Carolina, but charges were dropped or dismissed in all cases. The Gazette reported that these charges included animal cruelty in 2002, peeping Tom charges in 2002, and allegedly pushing his wife “out of a window” in 1997. But because none of these resulted in a conviction, there would be no criminal record to prevent him from passing a background check to acquire a firearm
NBC News quoted an Associated Press story in which a South Carolina neighbor said Dear acted “strangely,” but was not thought to be “dangerous.”
So, lacking a felony conviction or records of mental health problems, there was nothing to prevent Dear from acquiring a firearm.
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