Democrats were using the fact that the Odessa shooter failed a background check but was still able to purchase a firearm in a private sale to illustrate the need for universal background checks.
New information destroys this narrative.
The Odessa shooter did fail a background check, but the private purchase he made was from a person who was illegally manufacturing and selling without a license.
This was simply a criminal act — an illegal sale –, not a background check loophole.
This type of sale would have been possible regardless of any background check laws being in place.
According to Town Hall:
Over the Labor Day weekend, Seth Aaron Ator shot and killed seven people. He wounded more than 20 others in his senseless rampage. Police killed him during his attack. Ator was a man marked with mental illness. As they searched his home, police noted that this man was on a downward spiral, which apparently culminated when he was fired from his job the day he committed his heinous crime. As the anti-gun Left mobilized again, many questions remained. How did Ator get a rifle? He failed a previous background check via mental health adjudication. Well, it seems Ator obtained his firearms from someone who might have been illegally manufacturing and selling guns without a license. Firearms reporter Stephen Gutowski of the Washington Free Beacon had a good thread about this development, notably that it’s legal for a law-abiding citizen to build his own firearms for personal use/protection, but not with the intention of selling it to others. He went into some of the ATF statutes concerning what “in the business” means to the government concerning firearms sales, but added that regardless of the gray area—what this individual did as reported by the Journal concerning his transfer to Ator was “blatantly illegal”:
…
As of now, federal law enforcement officials are searching the home of the man in question, but the fact remains that background checks worked. Ator was denied. He appears to have gone outside the law to obtain a gun. There’s nothing expanded background checks can do about that or any talking point that’s peddled by Democrats after these tragedies. There was no loophole and private sales aren’t the reason why we have mass shootings. The laws on the books prevented Ator, a prohibited person, from buying a gun. It looks like he, along with his alleged illegal gun maker, had to break the law in order from him to obtain a weapon.
It is illegal to manufacture firearms with the intention of selling them to others without a license. Even if you’re buying already serialized lowers and then assembling them with other parts, it would be illegal to do so if your intention is to sell the guns to others.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) September 5, 2019
If you are not a prohibited person (like a felon or domestic abuser), you can legally manufacture your own firearms for personal use. You can’t do it with the intention of selling the gun to others, though. Here’s more from the ATF: https://t.co/DE1X77jYms
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) September 5, 2019
Here’s how the ATF defines “in the business” of manufacturing firearms. It’s very similar to “in the business” of selling firearms. https://t.co/OUEae7VEbw pic.twitter.com/wiUs1Tod1v
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) September 5, 2019
Even with that potential gray area, what the guy in the WSJ story is accused of doing is blatantly illegal. I’ve reached out to the ATF for more details on what’s going on with him. I’ll let you know when I hear back.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) September 5, 2019
Illegal private sale — criminal act NOT loophole! https://t.co/DwEtNpnPAE
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 5, 2019
So the murderer failed a background check because he was already adjudicated mentally unfit and went to the black market. The background check system WORKED. Universal Background Checks would have had zero affect. CRIMINAL ACTS are NOT loopholes. https://t.co/iky8ZKFI08
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) September 5, 2019
Until the left learns more about firearms and the fact that criminals will always have them, maybe they should sit this one out.
