‘A real security problem’: Pensacola shooting exposes exception in US gun policy that leaves Americans vulnerable – By Jorge L. Ortiz (USA Today) / Dec 11 2019
The shooting at a Florida air station that left three people dead and eight wounded last week has put the spotlight on federal guidelines that leave Americans vulnerable to attacks in their own homeland from a foreign source.
Investigators have said Saudi airman Mohammed Alshamrani launched a shooting spree Friday at Naval Air Station Pensacola with a Glock 45 handgun purchased legally from a licensed dealer despite not being a U.S. citizen or resident.
That’s because the gunman obtained a Florida hunting license, a relatively easy procedure that qualified him for one of the exceptions to the federal law that prohibits foreign nationals from purchasing firearms in this country.
Alshamrani, who was shot dead at the scene by sheriff deputies responding to the assault, was an officer in the Royal Saudi Air Force training in aviation at the base.
The website for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says foreigners who enter the U.S. with a non-immigrant visa are forbidden from possessing firearms or ammunition, unless they meet one of these exceptions:
“(Having) a valid hunting license or permit, (being) admitted for lawful hunting or sporting purposes, certain official representatives of a foreign government, or a foreign law enforcement officer of a friendly foreign government entering the United States on official law enforcement business.’’
Experts on gun policy say that leaves too much wiggle room, especially the hunting license exclusion, which doesn’t establish what kind of weapons are allowable.
Continue to article: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/11/pensacola-shooting-exception-us-gun-policy-hunting-license/4392107002/
