Should Omar Mateen have been legally allowed to buy a gun on June 10, 2016?

[Taco Truck 🚚]

It's also out of character for an American Muslim.

Considering the number of potentially radicalized Muslims we know the FBI keeps tabs on (in the thousands) compared to the relatively small number of Muslims in the country, it's not really that out of character, especially when compared to every other religion in the country.

Ahh... right wing statistics and math.   There are 2.75million Muslims in America if the "FBI is keeping tabs" on 2,000 of them that is 0.072%.  Or as Republicans would say the majority.

And mind you this nebulous quote of "thousands" is in no way substantiated and it assumes everyone the FBI is "keeping tabs on" is in any way a legitimate threat.  The FBI has a terrible history of abusing the Constitutional rights of innocent citizens.  Just because an FBI agent taps someones phone or goes through their mail I'm in no way inclined to think the person did anything.  They did all that and far worse to MLK.  Hell every killing by an on duty FBI agent has been determined to be a good shoot by their own internal process in modern times.  The one law enforcement agency in all of American history that absolutely never has a questionable killing.

Killing of Ibragim Todashev was determined to be in no way suspicious...

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibragim_Todashev

If that is how they kill people I can't imagine how they put people on lists to be monitored.  You really trust these people without question?  You would really condemn someone just because the FBI says they are a bit suspicious?

[Taco Truck 🚚]

Does the FBI get notified when people who were under suspicion, or still under suspicion / on watchlist attempt to purchase firearms? At the very least they should be notified and the FBI should keep a close eye on them for a reasonable amount of time to make sure things like this don't happen. I'd like to think that there aren't so many current/former persons of interest trying to buy weapons that it isn't feasible to keep an eye on them for an indeterminate amount of time after the fact.

It just bothers me that the FBI had tips or suspicions of some of these shooters (past and present) and yet still ending up with this bs. I'd understand more if the shooters were completely random people never before suspected, but come on now.

The problem with all these threads and the ridiculous suggestions contained in them is no one is posting real verified data.

How many people are on these lists?  I mean if you have a list with 200,000 people on it then there simply isn't the manpower to set up a surveillance team every time one of the people on the list sneezes.  There are less than 14,000 special agents at the FBI and they also have other responsibilities.

And how many tips come in to law enforcement?  If you watch local news they get hundreds of tips regarding things like abductions.  I guarantee most of those are BS.  The FBI can't send a full blown team out to thoroughly investigate every tip.

I realize people are upset but please be realistic.  This isn't the movies.

[Taco Truck 🚚]

The problem with all these threads and the ridiculous suggestions contained in them is no one is posting real verified data.

How many people are on these lists?  I mean if you have a list with 200,000 people on it then there simply isn't the manpower to set up a surveillance team every time one of the people on the list sneezes.  There are less than 14,000 special agents at the FBI and they also have other responsibilities.

Right. I don't know if you are referring to my post with that but I said only when they attempt to purchase a gun. I don't think there would be a large number of instances of that happening, but then again, I don't have the data to back up that assertion. I think it would be reasonable to have them notified so they can make decisions on who to look further into.

This stuff is going to happen no matter what we do, but I wish we could at least try some things instead of Congress just doing nothing every single time. They can even add sunsets to the bills to prevent one side from unfairly obstructing repeal if the ideas/programs don't work.

There is a gigantic gun show loop hole.  Anyone can buy a gun with no background check.  No way for the FBI to even know a sale has happened.

Also there is a very stringent time limit on background checks.  If the FBI doesn't deny a sale within 72 hours the purchaser can just get the gun by default.  There have been cases of the FBI eventually telling a gun store, no way, but too late, the gun buyer is already merrily on their way.

The fact of the matter is from the time of purchase to massacre was week.  A team would have had to been on a plane fairly quickly to get down there and set up 24-7 surveillance.

And I don't know how often people on those lists buy guns at stores that run background checks.

And with all these instances hindsight is 20/20.  People always find warning signs and missed opportunities after the fact.  The problem is a lot of the time these people aren't doing anything illegal right up until the pull out the gun.

You can't have AR-15s lying around and expect peace.  Until Congress takes steps to change that this chaos will continue.  14,000 FBI special agents can't protect us from millions of AR-15s.