Texas Church Shooter Passed Background Check for His Gun

The Texas church shooter, Devin Kelley, acquired his gun via a background check at a retail sporting goods store in San Antonio.

Kelley opened fire on congregants in First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, killing 26 before being stopped by a good guy with a gun in the parking lot.

This makes Kelley only the latest in a long list of mass public attackers who complied with all gun controls to acquire their firearms, only to use those guns for heinous purposes.

Kelley used an AR-15 style rifle and according to CNN, a law enforcement official indicates “Kelley purchased the Ruger … rifle he used in the shooting from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio.” The observed that Kelley “didn’t have a disqualifying criminal history when he filled out the background check paperwork at the store.”

The fact that Kelley passed a background check cannot be overemphasized, as the left continually pushes background checks as a way of making Americans safe. In fact, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) responded to the October 1 Las Vegas attack by pushing universal background checks even though the Las Vegas attacker repeatedly passed background checks to acquire his firearms.

In a similar fashion, Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly have been pushing universal background checks for over half a decade even though the man who shot and wounded Giffords passed a background check to acquire his firearm.

Here is just a partial list of mass public attackers who acquired their guns via background checks:

• the Alexandria attacker (June 14, 2017))
• Orlando attacker (June 12, 2016)
• the UCLA gunman (June 1, 2016))
• the San Bernardino attackers (December 2, 2015)
• the Colorado Springs attacker (October 31, 2015)
• the Umpqua Community College attacker (October 1, 2015)
• Alison Parker’s attacker (August 26, 2015)
• the Lafayette movie theater attacker (July 23, 2015)
• the Chattanooga attacker (July 16, 2015)
• the alleged Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal attacker (Jun 17, 2015)
• the Muhammad Carton Contest attackers (May 3, 2014)
• the Las Vegas cop killers (June 9, 2015)
• the Santa Barbara attacker (May 23, 2014)
• the Fort Hood attacker (April 2, 2014)
• the Arapahoe High School attacker (December 13, 2013)
• the D.C. Navy Yard attacker (September 16, 2013)
• the Aurora movie theater attacker (July 20, 2012)
• Gabby Giffords’ attacker (January 8, 2011)
• the Fort Hood attacker (November 5, 2009)
• the Virginia Tech attacker (April 16, 2007), and many others.

The point is simple–gun laws do not constrain criminals who are determined to carry out attacks, particularly if those criminals are willing to do while doing so. The solution lies in being sure law-abiding Americans have access to firearms and the ability to carry them for self-defense.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com