Murdering Journalist Passed Background Checks, Week-Long Wait

By Bob Owens

Vester Lee Flanagan, the former journalist who murdered two of his former colleagues and seriously injured the woman they were interviewing at Smith Mountain Lake, legally obtained the Glock 19 9mm handgun used in the attack from a Virginia FFL after he put a deposit down on the pistol, waited a week, after passed multiple background checks.

Thomas Faison, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said Wednesday investigators had recovered a Glock 19 pistol that belonged to Flanagan.

Faison said the gun had been purchased “weeks ago,” and that he had apparently passed a required background check. Flanagan also had a second gun, Faison added.

It’s worth noting that the background checks Flanagan passed went beyond the standard federal NICS background check administered by the FBI, and included the extensive VCheck system:

The purchaser’s name and certain personal descriptive data are immediately entered into a computer system at the dealer location or while the dealer remains on the telephone with the FTC. The design of this program eliminates traditional waiting periods by electronically accessing criminal records and “wanted” databases at the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the Virginia Criminal Records Exchange (CCRE) and provides …read more

Source:: Bearing Arms