On the recordJune 15, 2016
Had we had in place a ban on individuals who were on the terrorist watch list to buy a weapon, it only would apply to brick-and- mortar stores. Even if Omar Mateen was on one of those lists and even if we passed a law saying that prohibited him from buying a weapon, he would have gone into that store, be told that he couldn't buy a weapon, and then he could have walked right back to his house and gone online and bought one there or waited for the next weekend's gun show, of which there are many in Florida, and bought one there. We don't know how it would have played out, but without an expansion of background checks to people on the no-fly list being prohibited to buy guns, it is a half measure. I reiterate, these are the two things we are asking for--to have consensus on these two issues because they are the right thing to do, as we are discussing, but they also have the support of the American public.
