One of the first issues President Barack Obama referenced when he spoke about the church shooting in Charleston, S.C., is gun control and how easy it is for people to get their hands on a gun.
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“We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that, once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun,” Obama said during a press conference Thursday.
Well, it turns out that the reportedly self-acknowledged gunman, Dylann Roof, bought the semiautomatic handgun he used to carry out the attack at a gun store about 25 miles from his home in South Carolina, NBC News reports.
Roof reportedly purchased the gun eight days after his 21st birthday. Roof’s friends told NBC News that they think Roof used the money given to him as a birthday present from his parents.
Roof has a pending misdemeanor drug charge stemming from an arrest in February. But that history didn’t prevent him from purchasing a firearm, since under South Carolina law, NBC News explains, firearms can’t be sold to felons or those under indictment for a felony.
There is a federal provision that makes it hard for convicted drug users to purchase guns, but “a single misdemanor arrest,” again, put Roof in the clear to purchase a gun.
Read more at NBC News.
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