Shooting at a Public Event

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/18/us/zombicon-shooting-fort-myers-florida/index.html?eref=rss_latest

It seems as if every other week there is a new story about an active shooter.  This goes back to my last blog post, there should be stricter guidelines when it comes to purchasing firearms.  It shouldn't get to a point where anyone should be concerned about going with family or friends to a public event.  It's even more disturbing because on this unfortunate event, the accused wasn't even found, leaving it open for him/her to strike again.  I personally am a lover of guns, and I do believe in the saying "guns don't kill people, the person behind the gun does."  I will stick to my thoughts from my previous blog post about it being hard to spot out the "creeper" who is planning a shooting spree, but I do believe that when trying to purchase a firearm, there should be a thorough check, from criminal history all the way the medical history.  I also believe that the security checks for any event should be completed.  The host of this particular event was very apologetic, however, I wonder, with 6 entry/exit points, how was the security being done.  Especially when someone can go to this event, open fire, kill one person and injure 4-5 others, and then leave undetected.  It is unfortunate that it has come to this, but security measures definitely need to be looked at more serious.  The difficult part would be determining where and when, because these shootings happen anywhere from schools, churches, movie theatre, military installations, etc.  I just find it very sad that people have to be worried about taking their families to a place made for fun and good memories, potentially going wrong.

How did they get their guns?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/03/us/how-mass-shooters-got-their-guns.html?_r=0


When you read the article, most of these active shooters purchased their guns legally, despite the fact that some of them had mental illnesses.  My question would be, how thorough are these background checks? I just purchased  my first gun in Virginia, and though I don't have a criminal background, it took approximately 10 minutes for them to get back with me.  I thought it was funny when my wife was asking about purchasing a weapon, she was told she couldn't.  For one reason, she isn't a Virginia resident, despite her being on active duty military orders.  She either had to be a Virginia resident or her orders had to show she is stationed in Virginia.  My next question is, what disqualifies a person from purchasing a weapon?  When the background checks are conducted, what are they looking for that disqualifies someone.  One individual had a drug charge and another had an assault charges, and they were still able to get a gun.  I am a gun owner, and I enjoy going to shooting ranges, but for shooters who got the gun from their parents, I believe there needs to be some serious gun control, locked up and hide the key.  It's pretty much impossible to determine if a person you pass by or even someone you see regularly will open fire in the crowd.  As inconvenient as it may be for a lot of gun lovers, I think it would be wise to have stricter rules when purchasing a gun.