Greg Abbott confirmed to CNN this morning that the Texas gunman had applied for a gun license in Texas, but was denied. And given his criminal record he wasn’t allowed to have a weapon:
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says officials don't know how the church massacre shooter was able to get a gun https://t.co/o3XbwyCdP9
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 6, 2017
Abbott is right. We must wait until we have the facts before arguing about what needs to be done.
As was pointed out in the comments, this guy could have bought the gun privately (I really hope not).
Or he could have stolen it. Or he could have lied on an application, creating a mixup in which he was able to get his hands on one.
There’s no way to know until law enforcement can tell us what occurred.
So all of this brow beating over guns really needs to calm down until we get all of the facts.
What we do know is that someone dishonorably discharged wouldn’t be able to legally own a weapon:
If Devin Kelley was dishonorably discharged from military it would mean he couldn’t have legally bought a gun. It’s same as a felony pic.twitter.com/nZITFHhdzn
— Joe Biggs (@Rambobiggs) November 6, 2017
Also worth noting is what Abbott said near the end of the video, that killing itself is illegal and there are very recent examples where people were killed and a gun was not used.
UPDATE:
Apparently there is a difference between a dishonorable discharge and a ‘bad conduct discharge’. According to some reports a ‘bad conduct’ discharge doesn’t prohibit someone from owning weapons.
Kelley was NOT dishonorably discharged; he was bad-conduct discharged, which doesn't prohibit firearm possession https://t.co/dBdzTP9fQ7
— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) November 6, 2017
Also according to CNN:
Kelley purchased the Ruger AR-556 rifle in April 2016 from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio, a law enforcement official told CNN.
When Kelley filled out the background check paperwork at the store, he checked the box to indicate he didn’t have disqualifying criminal history, the official said. He listed an address in Colorado Springs, Colorado when he bought the rifle, the official said.
Because this was over a year ago, I think we need to wait before we jump to the conclusion that he lied to Academy.