There isn’t anything in state or U.S. law that would have prevented the Orlando shooter from legally purchasing the weapons that authorities said he bought just days before he set out to conduct the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, legal experts say.
Federal authorities say that Omar Mateen was armed with a Sig Sauer .221 assault weapon and aGlock17 that he purchased from a Florida gun store on consecutive days about a week before the rampage. A handgun that authorities believe Mateen may have used in his job as a security guard was also found by law enforcement officials in his car, but was not used in the mass shooting.
Mateen had twice previously been on the FBI’s radar on suspicions of terrorist activity, but was not on the FBI’s large terror watch list database at the time of Sunday’s attack at a gay nightclub that left 49 victims dead and dozens more wounded, according to authorities.
Despite his past brushes with the FBI, the law allowed for Mateen, who worked as an armed security guard, to legally purchase weapons.
Membership or suspicion of membership in a terrorist organization does not prohibit a person from possessing firearms or explosives under current federal law, but the FBI is notified when a firearm or explosives background check involves an individual on the terrorist watchlist, according to the Government Accountability Office . Suspected terrorists purchased more than 2,000 weapons between 2004 and 2014, according to the GAO.
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