The Saudi Arabian citizen behind the mass shooting in Pensacola, Florida, legally purchased the gun used through a hunting license loophole.
On Friday, 21-year-old Mohammed Alshamrani, a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force, killed three sailors and wounded eight more at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where he was training. The gun used in the shooting, which is being investigated as an act of terrorism, was a 9mm Glock model 45 handgun.
Alshamrani made use of an exception under federal law that allowed him to purchase the weapon, according to a Tuesday statement from public affairs officer Amanda Videll of the FBI.
Videll said that the gun was purchased on July 20 from a federal firearms licensed dealer in Florida. She said that he used a valid Florida hunting license to qualify for an exemption that allowed him to make the purchase despite being admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa.
“The exception under which [Alshamrani] qualified to purchase a firearm was a valid Florida hunting license, but he may have qualified under other exceptions as well,” Videll said. “The preliminary investigation into the firearm purchase has not revealed any information to suggest that the sale was unlawful.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he thinks the U.S. to needs look into the exceptions that could allow someone like Alshamrani to legally purchase firearms.
“That’s a federal loophole he took advantage of,” DeSantis said. “I’m a big supporter of the Second Amendment, but the Second Amendment is so that we the American people can keep and bear arms. It does not apply to Saudi Arabians.
“He had no constitutional right to do that, for sure,” the governor added.
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