BLURRED LINES

Gilroy Gunman Bought Assault Rifle Legally Online From Nevada

“Good people have been hurt and this goes against everything I believe in,” the gun’s seller wrote in a Facebook post.

The gun used in the mass shooting Sunday at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California, was purchased online from Nevada, according to the firearms dealer who sold the weapon. The gunman, 19, purchased the assault rifle he used to kill three people, and injure over a dozen more, legally from Big Mike’s Guns and Ammo in Fallon, Nevada, according to a Facebook post from the shop’s owner. “Good people have been hurt and this goes against everything I believe in,” reads a post on the shop’s page signed by “Mike.” “I have always said we will sell to good people and have done everything we can to make sure this happens.”

Federal law should have barred the shooter, a California resident, from buying an assault weapon in Nevada because of California’s stricter gun laws, (interstate rifle sales must comply with laws in the states of both the buyer and seller). According to police, however, the shooter purchased the weapon legally; leading to speculation that he used a Nevada ID to buy the weapon. “I did not know this individual. He ordered the rifle off my internet page. When I did see him, he was acting happy and showed no reasons for concern,” Mike wrote. “I would never ever sell any firearm to anyone who acted wrong or looks associated with any bad group like white power. Everyone is my brother and sister and I am mourning for the families.”