Indianapolis gunman bought rifles despite earlier gun confiscation

 Indianapolis gunman bought rifles despite earlier gun confiscation

Indianapolis police say a gunman who opened fire at a FedEx warehouse killing eight people had legally bought the 2 assault rifles he used, despite having a shotgun confiscated months earlier.

Police haven't yet identified a motive for the attack.

Hole's mother called police last March and told them she feared her son might attempt to commit "death by cop", Paul Keenan, agent responsible of the FBI's Indianapolis field office, said.

Officers arrested him and took away his shotgun, records quoted by the Indianapolis Star newspaper show.

The FBI then interviewed him a month later but didn't find evidence of a criminal offense and didn't identify Hole as following extremist ideology, Agent Keenan said.

Hole used both assault rifles within the attack, police said.

He fired randomly at people within the FedEx facility's parking zone , fatally wounding four, before entering the building and killing four more people.

Indianapolis police said they might not explain about where he had bought the rifles because the investigation was ongoing.

President Biden has called the Indianapolis shooting and other recent mass shootings a "national embarrassment".

Earlier this month he announced his first steps to tighten gun controls. They include efforts to line rules surely guns, bolster background checks and support local violence prevention.

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What are the principles for purchasing guns in Indiana?

Under US federal law licensed gun dealers must perform a background check on buyers wanting a firearm.

In Indiana licensed gun dealers must use the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which checks that the customer doesn't have a record or is otherwise ineligible to shop for a gun. Its website says 300 million checks are administered , leading to 1.5 million people being denied a gun.

However this doesn't apply to unlicensed private sellers. Indiana and most other US states don't require a background check to shop for a gun - including an assault gun - from an unlicensed seller, consistent with Giffords, which campaigns against gun violence.

Giffords says nearly 1 / 4 folks gun owners bought their most up-to-date gun without a background check. The loophole lets guns "easily find their way into the hands of illegal buyers and gun traffickers, dramatically increasing the likelihood of gun homicides and suicides", it says.

President Biden has said he wants to usher in universal background checks, which might apply to all or any gun sales. He also wants to ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons, regulate existing assault weapons and introduce buy-back scheme.

However the present make-up of Congress means enacting new gun laws are going to be difficult. The United States Senate is currently split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice-President Kamala Harris holding the deciding vote. But current Senate rules mean that in practice, 60 votes are needed to pass legislation, meaning some Republican support is required. Republicans have blocked significant regulation laws within the past.

The right in touch arms is protected by the Second Amendment to the US Constitution and lots of people see regulation laws as infringing on this constitutional right.

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