Children in the Line of Fire

The United States, with its weak gun laws, remains an exceptionally dangerous place for children. Approximately nine children and teenagers die every day from gun violence in America. In any given year, the U.S. loses more than 3,000 children and teens to gun violence; a number greater than the number of Americans that were killed in the 9/11 attacks. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American children age 14 and below are sixteen times more likely than children in other industrialized nations to be murdered with a gun, eleven times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from firearms accidents.

A spate of recent tragedies reminds us that children remain vulnerable even when their parents are among the most highly qualified gun owners in America—concealed handgun permit holders. For years, the gun lobby has told us that permit holders are some of the most law-abiding and responsible citizens in the country. The problem is that in approximately 40 states, little is done in terms of screening or training requirements to assure that this is the case.

• On January 8, Jaritza Alvarado’s eight year-old son Jose found her 9mm handgun and tragically shot himself in the chest. Alvarado, a resident of Allentown, held a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Pennsylvania. The boy’s father told police that the previous night he had seen the gun on the dresser in the couple’s bedroom. Just before going to bed, he grabbed the weapon, loaded it, racked a round into the chamber, and placed it in a backpack on the floor of the room. That backpack belonged to Jose, who stored his video games inside it. The following morning, as his parents slept, Jose opened the backpack to find the handgun sitting on top of his games. He fatally shot himself, waking them up immediately. After searching the home, police found an extra gun magazine in a kitchen cabinet, next to a two-liter bottle of soda that had a hidden compartment used to store cocaine.
  
  

• Marine Sergeant Colton Lumon was at home with his wife and two daughters on February 21. As nine month-old Makenna sat in her high chair eating fruit, Colton practiced drawing and “dry firing” his handgun at candles across the room. During one draw he applied too much pressure to the weapon and it accidentally discharged, striking Makenna in the hand and head. She was pronounced dead two hours later. Colton had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Virginia and told police he kept his weapon loaded with a bullet in the chamber at all times.
  
  

• On February 27, 11 year-old Randy Reddick, Jr. was accidentally shot and killed in front of his home in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Earlier that day, his father, Randy Reddick, Sr.—a concealed handgun permit holder—had removed his 40-caliber Glock pistol and placed it in the center console of his truck before entering the post office. When the family returned home later that day, Randy Sr. sent Randy Jr. and his 10 year-old son outside to get his coat from the truck. The 10 year-old found the gun, which had been left in the truck, and accidentally shot his brother in the head, killing him instantly.

None of the three states in which these tragedies occurred—Pennsylvania, Virginia and Florida—require any real training for concealed handgun permit holders. Pennsylvania requires no training whatsoever. Virginia requires applicants to take a one-hour online test (applicants watch a 1/2-hour video and then answer a 20-question multiple-choice test at the website). Florida requires three hours of classroom instruction. Once satisfied a single time, the Virginia and Florida requirements are good for life. Additionally, none of these states have any mandatory safe storage requirements for firearms kept in homes where minors are present.

The results, sadly, are predictable: Unnecessary and heartbreaking tragedies that claim the most precious and vulnerable members of our society. We could—and should—be doing a lot more to protect children like Jose Alvarado, Makenna Lumon and Randy Rennick, Jr. It is a stain on our nation’s conscience that we are not.

Cutthroat Politics

It has been widely reported that President Barack Obama has been receiving an enormous number of threats during his 15 months in office—a 400% increase over the number received by President George W. Bush. Commentators have also decried the death threats received by Members of Congress who voted for health care reform in March.

Less frequently reported, however, is the number of such threats coming from individuals who hold concealed handgun permits. This blog looks at three such cases that are particularly disturbing.

On March 27, Norman Leboon, 38, of Philadelphia was arrested and charged with threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and his family. Leboon had posted a video on YouTube in which he warned, “Remember Eric...our judgment time, the final Yom Kippur has been given. You are a liar, you're a pig...you're an abomination. You receive my bullets in your office, remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer's abominations.”

Rep. Cantor was not the only public figure that Leboon had threatened. Leboon had posted thousands of videos on YouTube which were “bizarre [and] sometimes threatening. In one of these videos, he commented, “Yes, President Obama, you and Vice President Biden and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and your security council say very bad things about me. Your punishment is coming, the swine, it will be severe, and you will beg for mercy to your God. It will be severe.”

According to Philadelphia court records, Norman Leboon was arrested by city police on June 14, 2009, after threatening to kill his live-in partner John Hopkins. Neither Leboon nor Hopkins showed up at the ensuing July 28 hearing. Peter Leboon tried to have his brother committed to a mental institution on numerous occasions, most recently before Christmas 2009.

These issues did not prohibit Leboon from obtaining a concealed handgun permit in Pennsylvania, however. Peter Leboon recalls: “The last time I tried to get him help we searched the whole house, six or seven of us, we couldn't find [his] gun. I found the permit, though, and destroyed it.”

In another case, Mark Anthony Rattenni, 37, was questioned by U.S. Secret Service agents on April 7 “in reference to a threat against the president of the United States.” When Secret Service found Rattenni in possession of a 9mm firearm, they called the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy checked the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and found that Rattenni had been convicted of felony forgery in 1999 and felony assault in 2003 in New York, which made it illegal for him to own a firearm. He was subsequently arrested.

Despite these convictions, Rattenni had been issued a permit to carry a concealed handgun in July 2007 by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The department had sent Ratteni a letter on December 19, 2007, stating that his permit was to be revoked because of the convictions, but the Pinellas County deputy’s check on April 7 found that the permit was still valid.

The Yonkers District Attorney’s office in New York discovered on April 9 that Rattenni’s felony charges were eventually reduced to misdemeanors. Pinellas Chief Assistance State Attorney Bruce Bartlett has said, however, that Rattenni still shouldn’t have passed a background check to buy a handgun or obtain a concealed handgun permit.

In the most recent event, Joseph Sean McVey, an Ohio resident, was arrested on April 26 at the Asheville Regional Airport just after Air Force One departed with the President and First Lady. McVey, 23, exited his vehicle, which was parked in a rental car return parking lot, with a loaded handgun and told a police officer that he wanted to see the president. Police searched McVey’s car and found a variety of law enforcement equipment, including a siren box, a mounted digital camera, LED strobe lights, and four large antennas. In the car’s cup holder were rifle scope formulas, which help a shooter adjust for distance when firing at a target. McVey was charged with going armed in terror of the public.

McVey was a concealed handgun permit holder and a member of the local Coshocton County Radio Emergency Association Citizen Team in Ohio. The citizen team is a volunteer organization that assists the sheriff’s department with traffic control at emergency scenes, which may explain why McVey had a police scanner and radio. County Police had a run-in with him in January, when McVey stopped on the highway to see if a couple who had pulled to the side of the road needed help. When he did not receive a response, he went back to his car, retrieved and holstered his handgun, and went back to the couple, at which point the man “swore at [him] and came towards [him].” After being instructed by a dispatcher to leave the scene, McVey was pulled over at gunpoint and “lectured on the proper way to handle a gun” by police.

After McVey’s arrest in North Carolina, Coshocton County Sheriff Tim Rogers revoked his permit to carry a concealed handgun.

Leboon, Rattenni and McVey all obtained concealed handgun permits in “Shall-Issue” states that give local law enforcement no discretion in issuing them. Applicants who meet a basic set of criteria must be given a permit and there is limited screening for criminal and mental health history (all of which is conducted through an instant computer check). In light of increased threats to our elected officials, policy makers now have another reason to assess whether such a process adequately assures public safety.

The Gun-Toting Soccer Mom

On October 7, Meleanie Hain’s handgun failed to protect her. That evening, she was in the kitchen of her home in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, chatting on the Internet with a friend through a web camera. Her husband, Scott Hain, entered the room, picked up a 9mm handgun, and shot her several times. As the Hain’s children—ages 2, 6 and 10—fled the house in terror, Hain’s online friend heard the shots and immediately called 911. When police arrived, Meleanie Hain was found dead in the kitchen. Scott Hain, having committed suicide with a shotgun, was found dead in an upstairs bedroom.

Meleanie’s 9mm Glock 26 handgun, loaded with a full magazine and a bullet in the chamber, was in a backpack hanging from the front door. A car parked in the driveway bore an “NRA Law Enforcement” bumper sticker.

A Visible Presence
The murder-suicide drew a significant amount of media coverage because Meleanie Hain was an ardent and outspoken pro-gun activist. Known as the “gun-toting soccer mom,” she gained national attention in September of last year when she openly carried her Glock handgun to her five year-old daughter’s soccer game in Lebanon. This led to an outcry by other parents affiliated with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Soccer League who feared for the safety of their children. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much they could do. It is legal for Pennsylvania residents to openly carry handguns in public—and no permit is required.

Why did Hain bring her gun to her daughter’s soccer games? She explained that it was for self-defense and because “carrying a gun ensures that I’m taking responsibility for my children’s safety.” She added that she carried her gun openly (versus concealed) because “I don’t really need anything extra in the way of the gun if I’m going to have to pull it out and I’m holding a baby and trying to shuttle two or three other kids.” “It may sound arrogant,” Hain said, “but the Constitution has guaranteed me a right, and there is nothing more to say about it.”

Preaching the Gospel
Hain spoke frequently with the press and echoed a number of talking points that have been circulated for years by the National Rifle Association and other gun lobby groups:

• “An armed society is a polite society.”
  
  
• “When seconds count, the police are minutes away.”
  
  
• “A gun-free zone says to a criminal: ‘Easy Target.’”
  
  
• “11% of the time police officers kill an innocent person. Only 2% of the time does a private citizen shoot an innocent person.”
  
  
• “60% of criminals polled said that they would not victimize someone if they new they were armed. 40% of them said they would not victimize someone if they thought they were armed.”
  
  
• “Did anybody think they would need [guns] at Virginia Tech? Did anybody think they would need a gun at an Amish school house? Probably not.”

These comments brought plaudits from pro-gun activists (Pennsylvania Open Carry presented her with awards and one visitor at OpenCarry.org memorialized Hain by stating, “She was a true beacon for the [open carry] cause and fought the good fight”) and circumspection by Lebanon County Sheriff Michael DeLeo. On September 17, 2008, DeLeo revoked Hain’s concealed handgun permit, citing a section of Pennsylvania law that applies to individuals “whose character and reputation is such that [they] would be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety.”

Hain appealed the revocation and her permit was reinstated on October 14, 2008, by County Judge Robert Eby, a gun owner and concealed carry permit holder himself. Eby said that the law required him to return Hain’s permit (Pennsylvania is a “shall-issue” state that gives local law enforcement no discretion in denying permits to those who pass basic computerized background checks), but he questioned her judgment nonetheless. Eby noted that Hain had “scared the devil” out of other parents and children, and declared, “Fear doesn’t belong at a kid’s soccer game from any source.” He advised her to stop open carrying her sidearm at the games—a suggestion she immediately dismissed.

Scarlet Letter
Hain wasn’t done though. She then launched a million-dollar lawsuit against Sheriff DeLeo, claiming he had infringed on her Second Amendment rights. “Just the fact that he was wrong is evidenced by the fact that my license was restored to me,” said Hain. “I am a victim of Sheriff Michael DeLeo’s. I am a victim of those in society as a direct result of his actions as well. The way people look at me sometimes when I am out running errands, I feel as if I am wearing a scarlet letter, and really it’s a Glock 26.”

Hain’s family was also beginning to look at her differently. She noted that, outside of her mother, her family was “not well educated about firearms” and “basically anti-gun.” Additionally, several local families took their children out of the daycare center that Hain ran out of her home as a result of her open carry activism. This represented a distinct setback in OpenCarry.org’s goal to "naturalize the presence of guns, which means that guns become ordinary, omnipresent, and expected. Over time, the gun becomes a symbol of ordinary personhood."

The Devil You Know
Ironically, the greatest threat to Hain at this time was not from outside her home, but from within. Hain’s attorney, Matthew Weisberg, indicated that she had separated from her husband Scott Hain, a parole officer, in early 2009, and wanted to pursue a protective order against him. Jay Bell, a moderator at the Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association message board (where Hain’s screen name was “shefearsnothing”), said, “She was telling me at the [Open Carry] dinner in Collegeville she was planning to discuss divorce with her husband, but was afraid he’d react violently.” What exactly transpired between Meleanie Hain and her husband in the days and hours before the shooting is unknown, but it is now clear her fears were justified.

Reacting to the Hain’s murder-suicide, Daniel Vice of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence said, “We hear about cases like this every day. Eighty people are killed by guns each day [in the United States] … We see every day the effects of gun violence, especially against women. Having a gun in the home makes it 22 times more likely you’ll be killed by that gun instead of it being used on an intruder.” Joe Grace, Executive Director of CeaseFire Pennsylvania, added, “The myth is that you’re safer with a gun … Having a gun did not make Meleanie safer. She and her husband are now deceased … It should give policy-makers pause. It’s time to let go of extreme rhetoric in the name of sanity and common sense.”

In the end, there was one piece of Hain’s rhetoric that seemed prescient. “If children are afraid of guns, that goes back to their parents,” Hain said on November 12, 2008, on the “It’s Your Call” show with Lynn Doyle. “It goes back to what they’re being exposed to at home.” Certainly, no one has suffered worse in this tragedy then the Hain children.

“You can commit mass murder then still go to heaven.”

On August 4, George Sodini , 48, walked into the LA Fitness Center in Collier, Pennsylvania, wearing black workout gear and a headband. In his pocket was a .32 semiautomatic handgun. He carried a duffel bag with three more handguns: two 9mm semiautomatic pistols with 30-round clips and a .45 caliber revolver. All told, he was carrying 150 rounds of ammunition.

Sodini entered an exercise room where an aerobics class was taking place, turned off the lights, and opened fire, emptying one of the 9mm pistols. He then drew the second 9mm pistol and continued firing. In his last act, Sodini drew the .45 revolver and shot himself in the head. When the smoke cleared, at least 36 rounds had been fired and Sodini and three women lay dead. Sodini’s victims were Heidi Overmier, 46; Elizabeth Gannon, 49; and Jody Billingsley, 37. Nine other women were wounded in the shooting.

Within minutes of the tragedy becoming national news, the internet community discovered a journal that Sodini had posted online. In it, Sodini provided his name, date of birth, and hometown—and in a series of entries dating back to November 2008 detailed his plans to commit mass murder. Sodini asked “Why do this?? To young girls?” and made it clear that it was because he was lonely, suicidal, and deeply angry at women, who he felt had spurned him his entire life. He took comfort, however, in a conversation with his pastor at Tetelestai Church in Pittsburgh, who convinced him that “you can commit mass murder then still go to heaven.” The journal even detailed a previous failed murder-suicide attempt by Sodini on January 6 of this year. “I chickened out!” he wrote. “I brought the loaded guns, everything. Hell!”

Authorities had also had previous contact with Sodini. Jack Rickard, a deacon at Tetelestai Church, reported Sodini after he harassed a woman there. A state trooper called Sodini to discuss the matter with him, but no charges were filed. Sodini was asked to leave the church, however, and he did.

A week before the shooting, Sodini came to authorities’ attention again when they received reports that a man on a public bus in Pittsburgh had pulled out what appeared to be a grenade from a computer bag. The man saw a passenger on the bus watching him and said, “It is real. Do you want to hold it?” Soon after, police questioned Sodini—who matched a description provided by the passenger. Sodini denied any involvement, and escaped charges when the passenger couldn’t confirm him as the suspect. After the shooting at LA Fitness Center, Allegheny County Police found a note in Sodini’s home that referred to the grenade incident. “Don’t worry about that; it was a fake,” it said.

Despite all this, Sodini purchased the firearms using in the shooting legally (and bought one of his high capacity-magazines and a magazine loader from Eric Thompson, the online gun dealer who also armed mass shooters Seung-Hui Cho and Steven Kazmierczak). Sodini also held a permit to carry a concealed handgun in the state of Pennsylvania.

The screening process for both purchasing firearms and obtaining a concealed carry permit in Pennsylvania involves a computerized background check. That check searches a state database and also the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the federal database maintained by the FBI. Because he had no significant criminal record, and because he had not been involuntarily committed to a mental institution or adjudicated as a “mental defective,” Sodini passed those checks. No background investigation is conducted in Pennsylvania to determine if there is any significant history that is missed by the computer check (this is despite the fact that the NICS database is missing millions of records that should be disqualifying purchasers). The result is that Pennsylvania authorities allowed Sodini to purchase firearms and carry a handgun in public without even looking for what it took bloggers minutes to find—a publicly-posted journal detailing his plans to slaughter women.

George Sodini is the fourth confirmed concealed carry permit holder to commit mass murder this year. Like him, the others—Frank Garcia, Michael McClendon, and Richard Poplawski—all had obvious red flags in their background that should have prevented them from obtaining their permits. It has been clear for some time in America that our weak gun laws make it easy for dangerous individuals to purchase firearms. The frequency with which they are obtaining permits to carry concealed handguns in public is a phenomenon that is even more disturbing.

"This Kid's Nothing But Trouble."

On April 4, 23 year-old Richard Poplawski shot and killed three police officers who were responding to a 911 call at his home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Poplawski, wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with a shotgun and an AK-47-style assault rifle, ambushed two officers who entered his house. He then managed to hold off police and SWAT team members who responded to the scene for four hours, firing approximately 100 rounds in the process. Poplawski has been charged with three counts of criminal homicide and nine counts of attempted homicide, including the wounding of a policeman who was trying to assist a fallen officer.

It was quickly learned that Poplawski is a White Supremacist with a long and disturbing history of violent behavior. He frequently visited, and posted messages at, the Neo-Nazi website Stormfront.org. Poplawski’s best friend, Edward Perkovic, stated that he “didn't like the Zionists controlling the media and controlling, you know, our freedom of speech.” On November 1, 2008, Poplawski wrote on Stormfront: “A revolutionary is always regarded as a nutcase at first, their ideas dismissed as fantasy ... If a total collapse is what it takes to wake our brethren and guarantee future generations of white children walk this continent, if that is what it takes to restore our freedoms and recapture our land: let it begin this very second and not a moment later.”

Poplawski’s problems date further back, however. He was expelled from North Catholic High School in his junior year for reasons that have not been fully disclosed. In 2004, Poplawski enlisted in the Marines and entered boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. He was discharged from the service just 23 days later, apparently for assaulting a drill sergeant. A year later, Poplawski’s former girlfriend, Melissa Gladish, received a protection from abuse order against him. “He was a violent, abusive man,” she said. “He dragged me by the hair, pulling me across the floor. I saw him choke his own mother. He was controlling.”

Despite this history, subsequent investigation has revealed that Poplawski passed the required background checks and bought his shotgun and two handguns at Braverman Arms Company in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. Poplawski’s best friend, Edward Perkovic, has also reported that Poplawski possessed a permit to carry a concealed handgun in the state of Pennsylvania. "I've seen it. He showed it to me. He said, 'Eddie, get one of these,'" remembers Perkovic. Poplawski also posted on the Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association website under the username “RWhiteman” and in one thread complained that the state of Maryland did not recognize his concealed carry permit when he traveled there.

If Poplawski was dishonorably discharged from the military (citing privacy laws, the Marines have refused to divulge this information), then he would have been barred under federal law from owning or purchasing firearms. He also would have been barred under federal law from purchasing or owning firearms while he was the subject of Melissa Gladish’s protection order. It is unclear at this time exactly when Poplawski purchased his guns. It is also not known where he obtained his AK-47 assault rifle, although he frequently bought and sold guns online through unregulated private sales.

What is more baffling is how Pennsylvania authorities could have issued Poplawski a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Pennsylvania is a "shall issue" state, meaning that local law enforcement must issue a concealed weapons license if the applicant passes a computerized background check and meets certain basic qualifications. Nonetheless, these guidelines state clearly that an applicant should be denied a permit if he/she “has a character and reputation indicating the applicant would be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety.”

Poplawski not a threat to public safety? Even a cursory investigation into his background would have revealed that he was a violent individual with racist, anti-government views. In the words of one of Poplawski’s neighbors (whose stepdaughter was threatened by him), “this kid's nothing but trouble.” Why that wasn’t patently obvious to Pennsylvania authorities is worth examining.

"I had fun."

On July 17, Randal Rushing, 25, turned a quiet family home in Scranton, Pennsylvania into a slaughterhouse. At approximately 4:30 AM that morning, Rushing—who rented basement room in the house—went on a killing spree, using a handgun to order his victims into submission and then bludgeoning and stabbing them to death with carpentry hammers and knives. When all was said and done, three people lay dead: Justin Berrios, 21; Dustin Hintz, 22; and Leslie Collier, 16. Collier’s body was so badly beaten that police could not tell exactly how he was killed. Authorities believe that Rushing’s rampage was triggered by jealousy regarding a girl he was dating who also lived in the house.

Police apprehended Rushing at a friend’s apartment the next morning, where he was found playing Playstation in blood-soaked boots. As police led Rushing out of the house, he blew reporters a kiss and told them, “I had fun.” The office of the Lackawanna County District Attorney is currently deciding whether to pursue the death penalty against him.

Rushing had a permit to carry a concealed handgun in Pennsylvania. His permit application had been approved in less than 24 hours in February 2007, despite the fact that he listed the address of a homeless shelter as his home address and provided two references whose names were illegible. The sheriff who issued the permit, Barry Stankus, claimed that he “followed all the guidelines established by the Pennsylvania Crimes Code and utilized the [Pennsylvania Instant Check System] established by the Pennsylvania State Police.”

Stankus’ successor as sheriff, Michael Savokinas, was of a different opinion. He described Stankus’ office as a “one-stop shop” for permits and, stating the obvious, noted, “we should have called the [references].”

Rushing had no criminal record, but even outside the problems with his written application for the permit, there were obvious red flags in his background. His attorney, Paul Ackourey, has stated that Rushing “has some serious emotional and mental health problems that will be explored.” State Police also indicated that Rushing had “made overt threats” at T.J. Maxx, where he worked. Despite the fact that Pennsylvania is a “shall-issue state, pursuant to statute local law enforcement can deny a concealed carry permit to an individual who is “not of sound mind” or who “has a character and reputation indicating the applicant would be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety” (among other reasons). Law enforcement is allowed 45 days to carry out an investigation on an applicant.

When claiming that concealed carry permit holders are the most law-abiding citizens in the country, the gun lobby will frequently point to the “rigorous” vetting they go through in order to obtain their permits. This case, however—and others detailed in our “Ordinary People” series—reveal that the screening process in many instances is not even cursory, much less rigorous. For example, Pennsylvania does not even require permit holders to undergo firearm safety training before carrying a handgun in public.

Several other important questions are raised by the Rushing case… Did Sheriff Stankus issue permits to other individuals who posed a threat to public safety during his tenure? Has the state of Pennsylvania implemented any monitoring or oversight procedures to determine if there are similar permitting problems in other counties?

An independent audit of the permitting process is also certainly justified. That is impossible, however, because Pennsylvania has enacted a National Rifle Association-drafted law that prohibits the public from accessing information on concealed carry permit holders.

One thing is clear—when it comes to individuals carrying handguns in public, it is time for Pennsylvania to start putting the safety of its citizens ahead of the interests of the gun lobby.

A Match Made in Hell

This month's "Ordinary People" entry involves the unlikely duo of David Downs, a middle-class home owner from Levittown, Pennsylvania; and Sean Hagins, a crack dealer from Trenton, New Jersey. Downs had a nasty crack habit, and when Hagins saw him roll up for a purchase one day in a pick-up adorned with Pennsylvania tags and an NRA bumper sticker, he had an idea. As an ex-felon prevented from buying firearms, he wanted to know if Downs would be willing to buy guns for him in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, handguns can be bought at a gun store in a matter of minutes. In New Jersey, the process can take weeks, even months. It was a match made in heaven—or hell, depending upon your perspective.

After the deal was struck, Downs, a concealed carry permit holder, bought scores of guns over the counter at established gun stores in Pennsylvania, easily passing the required computerized background checks. He failed to note that he was addicted to a controlled substance on the required sales form (which would have prohibited him under federal law from buying guns), but nothing came up in his criminal record and no one questioned him about it. These guns later ended up on crime scenes across Trenton. The owner of one of the stores that sold Downs the guns, commenting on the instant background check system that screens gun buyers, stated, “Maybe there should be a little more than that.”

At CSGV, we certainly agree. In New Jersey and certain other states, those purchasing handguns must obtain a permit through the police. This process involves fingerprinting and a background investigation by law enforcement. Such a process could have turned up evidence of Downs’ drug addiction. Given the flaws in our background check system (many disqualifying records have yet to be transmitted to the federal database), tighter screening makes a lot of sense and is the best way to catch questionable—and sadly, commonplace—activity that might fall through the cracks of a computer check.