Gun Purchases
Omar Mateen legally bought the guns he would later use to kill 49 people and injure 53 at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando.
"He is not a prohibited person," Trevor Velinor, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said on Sunday. "They can legally walk into a gun dealership and acquire and purchase firearms. He did so. And he did so within the last week or so."
On Monday, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam told reporters that Mateen "passed all of the legally required background checks for his weapons."
The 29-year-old St. Lucie County resident had no criminal record, passed the mental-health screening required to work as a security guard, legally purchased guns from a licensed dealer and followed the state's three-day waiting period rule before completing the purchase of the guns, Putnam says.
Black Lives Matter "data activist" Sam Sinyangwe pointed out on Twitter that, under Florida law, Mayor Buddy Dyer could enact an assault weapons ban and other gun restrictions while Orange County is under a state of emergency. No one has stated the intention to do so, however.
As the conversation around gun violence starts, CNN Money reports shares of Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger went up by almost 10 percent after 50 people died in Orlando. After House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, called for a moment of silence Monday, House Democrats interrupted Ryan by shouting at him, asking for gun control legislation.
