Gun Law Loophole Allowed Spa Shooter to Privately Buy Handgun

A loop in gun laws allowed the Brookfield Spa shooter to buy a gun from a private seller even though he was ineligible to buy it under federal law, according to a report from the New York Times. 

After Zina Haughton filed a restraining order against her husband, Radcliffe, became ineligible to federally purchase a gun and that's when he turned to the Internet to make the purchase. Radcliffe Haughton bought a handgun from a private seller, who was not legally required to do a background check, at a McDonald's parking lot for $500. 

He then went to Azana Spa in Brookfield, where his wife worked, killed her and two other women and injured four other women. He then killed himself.

The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to proceed with a gun-regulation bill that would expand the background check system, reported the Washington Post. 

Soon after the vote went through Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin released a statement saying, "I’m proud to be part of a bipartisan majority that voted to move forward on gun safety measures that can help build safer communities. I believe there are common sense actions we can take to prevent gun violence and it is my hope that we can work across party lines to find common ground."

Opponents of the expanded background checks argue that it would not stop criminals from getting guns because they would just buy guns through the black market and try to get straw purchasers, people to pass background checks for them. 

Baldwin says there is broad support in Wisconsin for expanding universal background checks to all gun sales and giving law enforcement additional tools to crack down on both gun traffickers and the straw purchasers. 

According to the New York Times report, the FBI rejected two million people from buying guns and many of those people were still able to buy guns through private sellers because legal restrictions make it difficult for law enforcement to track firearms sales. 

Elvin Daniel, brother of Zina Haughton, has been in Washington pushing for expansion of background checks as well as GPS monitoring on domestic violence abusers.