Louisiana theater gunman bought weapon in Alabama, police say

The gunman who opened fire in a Louisiana movie theater Thursday night, killing two people and injuring eight others before turning his gun on himself, purchased the semi-automatic weapon legally last year at an Alabama pawnshop, according to police.

Lafayette County Police Chief Jim Craft said Friday that John Russell Houser bought the .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun at a pawnshop in Phenix City, Alabama. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms told police that the purchase was legal.

Houser had been rejected for a concealed carry permit in 2006 because of a complaint of domestic violence filed against him by his wife, according to The New York Times, which also reported Friday that Houser also been arrested for an arson case in Georgia.

The state of Alabama allows sheriffs to deny licenses if they have a “reasonable suspicion” that the person will use the gun to hurt themselves or others, according to the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

This is in line with federal law, which prohibits felons, domestic abusers and people with a history of some mental illnesses to buy firearms.

Alabama doesn’t legally restrict the sales of assault weapons, and the state doesn’t require private gun sellers to do background checks on buyers. This ability to avoid background checks by going to a private sellers is called the “private sale loophole.” The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence says such private dealers sell an estimated 40 percent of all the guns in the U.S.

In contrast, 17 states and the District of Columbia have extended the federal background check law to include private gun sales in some capacity. For example, states such as California, Colorado and New York require background checks on all sales of all types of guns, including from unlicensed sellers. Illinois and Oregon require background checks to be conducted on firearms sold at gun shows, while states such as Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey require any gun buyer to apply for a permit and undergo a background check, even when the gun is bought from an unlicensed seller.

Alabama, by contrast, doesn’t require gun owners to register their firearms or limit the number of guns they can buy at the same time.

In 2009, Alabama ranked fifth among all U.S. states in terms of "crime gun exports," meaning guns that were used for a crime in another state, according to the advocacy group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.