ATF: Jacksonville Gunman Acquired His Firearms ‘Legally’

On Monday the ATF revealed that Jacksonville gunman David Katz had two handguns at the time of his attack and he acquired both of those legally in Baltimore, Maryland.

ABC News reports that Jacksonville Sheriff Michael Williams said Katz was armed with two handguns — a .45 caliber and a 9mm, when he opened fire on fellow gamers at the Madden Tournament. However, Williams added that Katz only used one of the guns in the attack.

The ATF revealed that Katz bought both guns “within the month of August in Baltimore from a licensed dealer.” This means Katz passed a background check to acquire his firearms, and it also means he complied with pre-purchase requirements for would-be handgun purchasers in Maryland.

Katz now joins a growing list of public attackers who have acquired their guns via background checks. That list includes:

• Parkland high school attacker (February 14, 2018)
• Texas church attacker (November 5, 2017)
• Las Vegas attacker (October 1, 2017)
• the Alexandria attacker (June 14, 2017))
• Orlando attacker (June 12, 2016)
• the UCLA gunman (June 1, 2016))
• the San Bernardino attackers (December 2, 2015)
• the Colorado Springs attacker (October 31, 2015)
• the Umpqua Community College attacker (October 1, 2015)
• Alison Parker’s attacker (August 26, 2015)
• the Lafayette movie theater attacker (July 23, 2015)
• the Chattanooga attacker (July 16, 2015)
• the alleged Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal attacker (Jun 17, 2015)
• the Muhammad Carton Contest attackers (May 3, 2014)
• the Las Vegas cop killers (June 9, 2015)
• the Santa Barbara attacker (May 23, 2014)
• the Fort Hood attacker (April 2, 2014)
• the Arapahoe High School attacker (December 13, 2013)
• the D.C. Navy Yard attacker (September 16, 2013)
• the Aurora movie theater attacker (July 20, 2012)
• Gabby Giffords’ attacker (January 8, 2011)
• the Fort Hood attacker (November 5, 2009)
• the Virginia Tech attacker (April 16, 2007), and many others.

Following news of the Jacksonville shooting, but before all the facts were in, gun control proponent David Hogg took to Twitter to urge Congress to require background checks on all gun sales:

Hey @SpeakerRyan – Just a reminder that 97% of Americans support universal background checks for all gun purchases.

Why won't you #AllowTheVote?

— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) August 27, 2018

Jacksonville is a yet another reason to oppose expanding background checks, inasmuch as it is demonstrable that such checks pose no hindrance to would-be criminals. They simply create more red tape for law-abiding citizens to wade through in order to acquire guns for self-defense.

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.