Report: Synagogue Shooting Suspect Has ‘License to Carry a Firearm’

CNN reports that the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting suspect has a “license to carry a firearm.”

ABC News reports that the suspect, Robert Bowers, “has several firearms and hunting licenses registered in his name.”

Breitbart News reported that Bowers allegedly opened fire inside the Pittsburgh synagogue and killed at least 11 people. He also wounded four police officers who arrived on scene after 911 calls about the shooting.

CNN’s report that Bowers has a license to carry means he passed a background check, to acquire the license. And it also means he would have been able to legally purchase firearms.

In fact, a law enforcement source told CNN that Bowers “has made at least six known firearm purchases since 1996.”

The gunman allegedly used multiple firearms in the attack. NY Mag reports that he had a rifle and KDKA’s Ross Guidotti reported Bowers had handguns as well:

Suspect surrenders with pistol in his waist band and one strapped to his ankle. Swat operators grabbed Weapons removed and made safe

— Ross Guidotti (@RossGuidotti) October 27, 2018

Shortly after the attack President Trump lamented the fact that Tree of Life Synagogue lacked armed security. Trump said, “If they had protection inside, the result would have been far better. This is a dispute that will always exist, I suspect, but if they had protection inside the synagogue maybe it could have been a very…different situation.”

Mark W. Smith,  New York Times bestseller author and the Presidential Scholar at the King’s College in New York City, said:

This is yet another example of the dangers of gun free zones. If you have a crazy guy with a gun or a knife or a bomb coming to kill people, then the potential victims need the ability to fight back.

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There are lots and lots of mentally ill people in America. We used to have about 500,000 locked up in mental institutions in the 1950s. Now we have about 30,000 people committed to mental institutions.   Where do you think those types of people went? Do these mentally ill people no longer exist or did we just let them out to walk the streets? Many of these mentally ill people are on our streets and they are violent.   So you better be in a position to protect yourself and your family against these violent individuals.

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Cops carry guns to protect cops. They carry guns for officer safety first and foremost. Since ordinary Americans who are not cops virtually always encounter the bad guys first (before the so called first responders), it is critical that Americans undertake steps to protect themselves—don’t count on government to do it for you. Remember, you are your own first responder.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.