Law enforcement authorities believe the gun used in Saturday’s Midland-Odessa shooting was illegally made and illegally sold from a man in Lubbock, Texas.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that authorities have “a person of interest” they believe may have made the gun at his home before selling it to the gunman who opened fire on August 31.
It is legal to piece together a gun at home for personal use in numerous states around the country, but it is illegal to sell that gun.
On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced that the Midland-Odessa shooter had “previously failed a gun purchase background check.” However, at that time, how the shooter acquired his gun was still unknown.
The next day reports indicated the shooter had acquired his gun via a private sale to avoid drawing attention to himself with a background check. Now law enforcement believes the gun may have been illegally made and, therefore, illegally sold.
WSJ reported that authorities do not know if the man who sold the gun “knew [the shooter] was a prohibited person when selling him the rifle.” If the seller did know, he could face a federal charge on those grounds in addition to allegedly violating the law against manufacturing and selling guns from one’s home.
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. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.