New York City’s deadliest shooting in 25 years – in a state with some of the toughest gun laws in the nation – is raising questions about how a gunman with a history of mental health issues was able to obtain multiple firearms and drive undetected across several states to carry out the attack.
The gunman who walked into a Midtown Manhattan office building on Monday, M4 assault-style rifle in hand, and sprayed it with gunfire, had a license to carry a concealed weapon in his home state of Nevada, officials said.
He also had been placed on psychiatric hold in 2022 and 2024, law enforcement sources told CNN. But that may not have necessarily prohibited him from obtaining his license in 2022 or buying firearms – depending on the circumstances of the holds, according to gun law experts.
So what went wrong?
While public health experts continue to stress that the vast majority of people experiencing mental health challenges are not violent, questions remain about the details of Tamura’s psychiatric holds and if they would have shown up in a background check.
The case underscores the wide gap in sharing mental health data with the federal government – an issue that can be attributed to inadequate funding to manage or require the data, as well as privacy issues, according to Thomas Chittum, former associate deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Yes, most people "experiencing mental health challenges are not violent," so why is the article focused on two observational holds of Tamura?
Tamura was arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing in 2023 in Clark County, Nevada, after he refused to leave a Las Vegas casino after attempting to cash out about $5,000, according to a police incident report. A court database suggests a district attorney declined to pursue the case, meaning the incident wouldn’t have prevented him from obtaining a gun.
The case also throws private gun sales under the microscope.
The AR-15 style weapon used in the shooting was legally purchased last year by the gunman’s supervisor at the Vegas casino where he worked, two law enforcement officials told CNN. The supervisor then assembled it and sold it to Tamura for $1,400, the officials said, citing an interview with the supervisor who is cooperating with authorities.
I suspect black people also have high rates of arrest without prosecutions but that is just racism. Different rules should apparently apply to whites and apparently Asians.
As for the psychiatric holds, it’s difficult to say without knowing the details whether they would have shown up in a background check or prevented Tamura from purchasing weapons, experts say.
“If you were on a 48-hour hold, if you were released at the end of that, it would not affect your ability to possess firearms under federal law,” Chittum said.
Most states barely touch on the area of mental health when a person applies for a gun license due to concerns over privacy issues and stigmatizing people who have mental health issues, according to Eller. One concern, for example, is soldiers who struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, might be reluctant to seek help because they fear their treatment history would deprive them of possessing firearms.
But we were just assured that most people "experiencing mental health challenges are not violent." So why is this a concern?
There’s a concerted effort by veterans’ groups and advocacy organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union to fight against the sharing of mental health records with the National Crime Information Center and local law enforcement, which most states rely on for background checks, according to Eller.
“Groups have been combating that because simply being mentally ill doesn’t mean you’re mentally incompetent, nor does it mean you’re a danger,” he added.
The good news: Nevada requires private party firearms transfer background checks.
In Nevada, the private sale of a firearm between two parties requires a federal background check before the transfer is complete. Both individuals must go to a federally licensed firearm dealer, which conducts the background check on their behalf. There are limited exceptions, including firearm transfers between immediate family members, which do not require this process.
If the private sale between Tamura and the supervisor did abide by the law and the facts can’t prove the supervisor had any knowledge of possible disqualifiers in Tamura’s history, including intended use of the firearm, then the seller likely won’t be prosecuted, according to Eller and Chittum.
Federal law doesn’t impose any obligation on private gun sellers to identify the buyer, conduct a background check or keep any record of the sale, Chittum said.
The Nevada law enforcing background checks for private sales was implemented in January 2020, closing the so-called “gun show loophole” that gun safety advocates have long criticized as a means for bypassing records checks that can flag past criminal history....
Because a concealed carry permit would exempt an individual for five years from a background check when buying a firearm from a licensed dealer, it creates a “nuanced area” where a person could obtain a license to carry and then subsequently be convicted or have a mental health prohibitor and might still be able to use their card to purchase a firearm and avoid the background check, Chittum said.
Some states recognize this issue and routinely run background checks on licensed holders to determine if their license is still valid, Chittum said. Red flag laws, including the one in Nevada, aim to keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves or others.
I agree that states that regularly run background checks on licensees are a good thing; some do so monthly. But this would not have caught anything on this guy. Fortunately, Nevada has a red flag law--for all the good it did.
So, the panaceas of the gun banners: mandatory background checks and red flag laws accomplished nothing. All they have left are gun bans and magazine size limits, which will work just fine unless he uses a handgun. Even a revolver would have accomplished his end result.
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