Suspected White House Correspondents’ Dinner attacker Cole Tomas Allen bought his handgun and shotgun legally, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Times noted that the two guns “were legally purchased in California.”
CBS 12 indicated that officials said, “Allen had no known criminal record and was not previously on law enforcement’s radar.”
U.S. Attorney for Washington, DC, Jeanine Pirro, said that Allen “will be charged with two counts of using a firearm during a violent crime, along with a separate charge of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.” Other charges are expected as well.
Following a March 1, 2026, shooting at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in Austin, Texas, Breitbart News pointed out that the vast majority of high-profile, public shooters since 2007 have acquired their guns legally, which means they have done so via a background check.
Below is a short list of some of the high-profile attackers or alleged attackers who passed checks to acquire firearms:
- Pawtucket, Rhode Island attacker (February 16, 2026)
- Dallas ICE attacker (September 24, 2025)
- Minneapolis Catholic School attacker (August 27, 2025)
- UNLV attacker (December 6, 2023)
- Louisville Old National Bank attacker (April 10, 2023)
- Nashville Christian school attacker (March 27, 2023)
- Uvalde School attacker (May 24, 2022)
- Buffalo grocery attacker (May 14, 2022)
- Indianapolis FedEx attacker (April 15, 2021)
- Atlanta-area attacker (March 16, 2021)
- Parkland high school attacker (February 14, 2018)
- Texas church attacker (November 5, 2017)
- Las Vegas attacker (October 1, 2017)
- Alexandria attacker (June 14, 2017)
- Orlando attacker (June 12, 2016)
- UCLA gunman (June 1, 2016)
- San Bernardino attackers (December 2, 2015)
- Colorado Springs attacker (October 31, 2015)
- Umpqua Community College attacker (October 1, 2015)
- Alison Parker’s attacker (August 26, 2015)
- Lafayette movie theater attacker (July 23, 2015)
- Chattanooga attacker (July 16, 2015)
- Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church attacker (June 17, 2015)
- Muhammad Cartoon Contest attackers (May 3, 2014)
- Las Vegas cop killers (June 9, 2015)
- Santa Barbara attacker (May 23, 2014)
- Fort Hood attacker (April 2, 2014)
- Arapahoe High School attacker (December 13, 2013)
- D.C. Navy Yard attacker (September 16, 2013)
- Aurora movie theater attacker (July 20, 2012)
- Gabby Giffords’ attacker (January 8, 2011)
- Fort Hood attacker (November 5, 2009)
- Northern Illinois University attacker (February 14, 2008)
- Virginia Tech attacker (April 16, 2007)
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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 and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.