This is the new narrative being established, a new justification for gun control activists to further restrict the rights of law-abiding Americans put us the mercy of terrorists like the NAS terrorist. The author calls it a “loophole” in the opening graph, but it’s not, my emphasis:
The FBI warning, dated May 22 and titled “Federal Hunting License Exception Could Be Exploited by Extremists or Criminal Actors Seeking to Obtain Firearms for Violent Attacks,” was sent from the bureau’s Office of Private Sector, according to a copy reviewed by Yahoo News. The warning encouraged businesses to be aware that “extremists and other criminal actors could exploit the federal statutory exception that allows non-immigrant visa holders” who normally can’t buy firearms or ammunition to legally purchase them “with a valid hunting license or permit.”
An exception is the legal allowance, as in it’s determined to be legal according to existing law. Let’s look at the law on the matter:
An alien admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa is prohibited from shipping, transporting, receiving, or possessing a firearm or ammunition unless the alien falls within one of the exceptions provided in 18 U.S.C. 922(y)(2), such as: a valid hunting license or permit, admitted for lawful hunting or sporting purposes, certain official representatives of a foreign government, or a foreign law enforcement officer of a friendly foreign government entering the United States on official law enforcement business.
[18 U.S.C. 922(g)(5)(B) and 922(y)(2); 27 CFR 478.11 and 478.32]
[…]
A nonimmigrant alien that possess a valid hunting license from a State within the United States or falls within any of the other exceptions or exemptions that allow nonimmigrant aliens to possess firearms may rent firearms to hunt or to use at a shooting range.
[18 U.S.C. 922(a)(5) and (9), 922(g)(5)(B) and 922(y); 27 CFR 478.99(a) and (c)(5)]
There wasn’t a loophole, a space where law was absent to regulate the possession of a firearm by a nonimmigrant alien — this is the law. Just as a criminal action isn’t a “loophole,” a foreign national taking full advantage of possession legally extended to him yet restricted from so many citizens is not a “loophole,” either. It’s the law — and make no mistake, it was the law that prohibited the innocent from defending themselves. By the logic of those insisting this law is a “loophole,” then it was a “loophole” that allowed this terrorist to roam unfettered for ten minutes as he fired on service members with zero resistance. Which, by the way, how did he get a Glock onto base? It’s a gun free zone, gun free zones possess magical properties that repel weaponry when brought to their invisible border, sort of like the defensive shields on space ships. If that sounds ridiculous, it’s even more ridiculous to believe that a terrorist would be deterred from murder by a DOD directive mandating disarmament. This fantasy that posting signs will keep people safe is getting people killed.
The same gun control laws that permitted this terrorist to purchase a firearm are the same laws that disarmed our innocent service members at NAS Pensacola — where now those service members are begging the brass to “arm us.”
One of the shooting victims was the captain of the U.S. Naval Academy rifle team, an “excellent marksman,” according to his brother.
“It’s so stupid that on a military base, the shooter was allowed to roam free for so long,” according to one instructor pilot. “In a gun fight, that’s an eternity.”
[…]
“We trust 18-year-old privates in combat with grenades, anti-tank missiles, rifles and machine guns, but we let service members get slaughtered because we don’t trust anyone to be armed back here in the United States,” a senior U.S. Army officer told Fox News. “Why are we cowering in our offices, it’s insane,” the officer added.
Joshua Watson’s family are calling for the gun ban on military bases to be lifted:
“These men and women are asked to go defend their country overseas or wherever and my brother was an expert marksman. He was captain of the Rifle Team for the Navy. He was well-qualified to have a firearm and defend himself,” Watson’s older brother, Adam, added.
“And, if we’re going to ask these men and women to stand watch for our country, they need the opportunity to defend themselves. This isn’t the first time this [has] happened, and if we don’t change something, it won’t be the last.”
[…]
“If my brother had not had that right stripped from him, this would be a different conversation,” Adam said.
The government trusted a Saudi national and allowed him to be armed (but they won’t let Saudi aviation students fly). Thanks to the gun control lobby the government doesn’t trust our own servicemen enough to allow them to carry.
