By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Mass shooters exploited gaps, errors in background checks
shootings
In this 2016 file photo, Barrye Browne, left, and Daron Calhoun collect memorials placed at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., on the anniversary of the killing of nine black parishioners during bible study. The gunman who killed the worshippers had been arrested on drug charges just weeks earlier. Although that arrest should have prevented him from purchasing the pistol he used in the attack, the examiner reviewing the sale never saw the arrest report because the wrong agency was li - photo by Associated Press
Most mass shooters in the U.S. acquired the weapons they used legally because there was nothing in their backgrounds to disqualify them, according to James Alan Fox, a criminologist with Northeastern University who has studied mass shootings for decades.
Sign up for the Herald's free e-newsletter