Renewed Background Checks after Texas Town Tragedy

Killeen, Texas – A quite little close-knit town in Texas, adjacent to the largest military installation in the US, was devastated by a shooting spree by a lone gunman. The gunman open fired on a room full of soldiers preparing for deployment, wounding 30 and killing 13.

The perpetrator was an US army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. What seemingly was an ordinary day on the 5th of November now is day the residents of Killeen would never forget. Soldiers and workers in the installation never saw it coming, nor did they expect the tragedy’s perpetrator to be one of their own.

The town and the US installations relationship is what you would call symbiotic, as seen the various stores that offer tailoring services for uniforms, and the bars where soldiers and townsfolk are seen sharing breakfast and coffee at the same table.

Sunday, 8th of November, 13 white crosses were placed on a church in Killeen, as well as various donation booths for the victim’s family. There was a widespread concern among the townspeople on the overall security of the installation and how it can affect their town.

“We’re shocked because this is the biggest Army base in the world. How could that happen?” “It’s really sad.” commented one of the Killeen’s residents.

The US base has then voiced out various measures to prevent the tragedy from happening again, they have mentioned tighter security checks when entering the installation as well as renewed background checks on both current and new employees.

This incident has sparked concerns among both government and the private sectors, prompting others to rethink their security strategies by now including renewed background checks on current employees to promote safety and protect everyone in their companies and their communities.

Background Check News: Beefed Up Commitment to Enforce Existing Gun Laws Required

Investigators placed by New York City Mayor's office pretending to be firearm buyers, secretly filmed different purchases made by their agents across a three state and seven city study on the gun show loophole.

The undercover surveillance video shows how simple and quick it is to purchase firearms during the thousands of gun shows held every weekend across America.

The undercover investigators clearly mentioned not being able to pass background checks while attempting to purchase the firearms. They were still able to buy the guns anyway. Under law a seller is not to proceed with a firearm transaction if he/she has reason to believe that the buyer cannot pass a background check. The video shows clearly how anyone, even convicted criminals and murderers, can easily score firearms during these gun shows.

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Here is the video showing the transactions:



After the gun show sweeps, New York City Mayor's office had some startling figures, the office's undercover agents were able to purchase 36 semi-automatic hand guns and 2 assault rifles without going through background checks, and in some instances even without as much as showing an ID.

During the investigations, the agents ran multiple integrity tests on gun show sellers, and 19 of the 30 private sellers failed by selling firearms to the agents who admitted to not being able to pass background checks. This comes as no surprise to some security analyst, during these shows, when a buyer comes with the right amount, the dealer will sell the gun, no questions asked.

The investigation clearly shows the existence of the gun show loophole, which studies show are the source of firearms for a large percentage of criminal activities across the united states. 30 percent of the illegally trafficked firearms are traced to gun shows, a figure reported by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Major concerns among the different state heads is the lack of enforcement to the current gun control laws, laws that are already in the books, but is poorly enfored, especially during these gun shows.