So, Aaron Alexis, the alleged Navy Yard shooter, apparently had a history of firearm abuses, mental illness and erratic behavior. In Seattle, he was arrested for shooting out the tires of a parked car in what the police report described as an anger-fueled "blackout." In Fort Worth he was investigated for discharging a firearm into the apartment upstairs after arguing with his neighbor. Just over a month ago he told Newport, Rhode Island police that he was hearing voices, and that people were "sending vibrations to his body" via a microwave oven, keeping him awake.

But he'd yet to mass-murder anybody, and so he never lost his security clearance, let alone his right to purchase and carry gun. Because, America!

That's right, Alexis, who had illegally discharged a weapon on at least two occasions, and who had recently been reported to the Navy to be having an apparent psychotic break, was allowed to legally purchase a shotgun in Virginia, and then carry it into the Navy Yard, unchecked, using his valid security pass, where he proceeded to kill 12 people. And folks wonder why people like me wouldn't mind making access to firearms a little more difficult. I mean, fuck!

Also:

“Once inside the facility, and after he began shooting,” Alexis “may have gained access to a handgun,” Parlave said. Investigators believe he took a weapon from a base security guard whom he shot. Contrary to previous reports that had been widely circulated, Parlave said Alexis did not use an AR-15 semiautomatic weapon.

So much for that "good guy with a gun" meme.

UPDATE: No doubt NRA types would argue that this was clearly a violation of Alexis's 2nd Amendment rights:

The gunman who killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday test fired an AR-15 assault rifle at a Virginia gun store last week but was stopped from buying one because state law there prohibits the sale of such weapons to out-of-state buyers, according to two senior law enforcement officials.