By Scott Wong, Sahil Kapur and Elizabeth Chuck - NBC News
WASHINGTON — Would a new gun law passed by Congress have prevented the mass shooting at a July 4 parade in Chicago this week?
Probably not.
Congressional experts and advisers familiar with the measure say it's unlikely it would have prevented a person matching the suspect's profile from passing a background check and purchasing firearms.
But they point to an indirect way in which the law could have ruled out guns.
Helena Kavanaugh, right, with her friends Addison Schwan, center, and Charlie Shookman, at a memorial service for the seven people killed in the July 4 shooting in Highland Park, Illinois. Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
Although it is a purely hypothetical exercise, Monday's massacre in Highland Park, which left seven dead and dozens injured, is one of the first chances to see whether the most important federal gun regulation passed in a generation could have prevented whether the guns fell into the possession of the suspect, a 21-year-old, or whether, as gun violence prevention advocates argue, that would have required stricter laws.
Although the suspect had a police record after knives were temporarily seized, he was not charged or convicted of any crime, meaning he most likely would have passed the FBI's background check process, two congressional aides said.
But experts say a key provision of the law for gun buyers under the age of 21 requires triple-checking, which includes contacting local law enforcement in the city where the person resides (and checking for disqualifying criminal or mental health records of minors).
[The alleged killer confesses to the Highland Park shooting. He bought weapons with the endorsement of his father despite threatening his family]
This would have been enough to tip off the Illinois police that the suspect was trying to buy a gun, so they could use the state's "red flag" law to prevent firearms from reaching his hands.
"It's not clear if he would have banned the purchase," reflected Nick Suplina, senior vice president of law and policy for Everytown for Gun Safety.
"But he may have led to other law enforcement action — at least a flag that this young man who threatened to kill his family and himself was buying a gun," he added.
An old acquaintance of the authorities
The suspect was known to Highland Park Police: officers visited his family's home twice in 2019.
"He's breathing!": Left for dead the day of the Highland Park shooting and died two days later
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The first time occurred in April of that year, when police investigated a suspected suicide attempt, authorities said.
The incident was handled by an expert in mental health issues.
In September 2019, officers returned to the home after a relative reported that the suspect had threatened to kill his relatives.
Sixteen knives, a sword and a dagger were seized, authorities said, but the youth was not arrested because family members refused to report him.
The suspect subsequently successfully applied for a gun license in December of that year, when he was 19 years old, according to the Illinois State Police.
His father supported his request.
After that, the suspect passed the background check and was able to purchase five firearms in 2020 and 2021, including the AR-15-style rifle that police say was used to attack the Independence Day parade attendees. Independence.
[A boy was found alone and bloodied after the Chicago shooting. The police searched for his parents but they were already dead]
"Under the new law, because he was under 21, local law enforcement would have been contacted as part of enhanced background checks. This is relevant because he was known to local law enforcement, as on two occasions different people came to his house. One of them was for a suicide attempt," insisted Brian Lemek, former executive director of Brady PAC.
"Those visits could have been enough to trigger" an extreme risk protection order or a red flag law order that allows authorities to seize weapons.
Other provisions of the new federal weapons law could also have affected the sequence of events, albeit indirectly.
The main one is grant funding that can be used to enforce red flag laws.
This photo provided by the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force shows Robert Crimo, III, charged with seven counts of first-degree murder in the July 4th parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois.AP
Illinois adopted a red flag law in 2019 that makes it easier for family members or law enforcement officials to ask the court to issue "firearms restraining orders," which prevent people from buying or possessing firearms. if they represent a danger to themselves or others.
But in the suspect's case, no such warrant was ever sought, even though he had threatened to harm himself and others.
"Illinois has a red flag law, but it's a law that is not used very often," Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat and author of the gun control bill, told CNN on Tuesday.
[The Highland Park shooting suspect's YouTube channel showed the parade route and a simulation of the shooting]
"It's an ineffective program. The bill we just passed in Congress a week and a half ago allocates nearly $1 billion to help states like Illinois teach law enforcement and first responders how to properly use the red flag law," he stressed.
"If everyone knew how to use the red flag law in Illinois, would they have used it in this case? Because it certainly seems like there was enough information on this young man for a court, for law enforcement, to come in and they'll take his guns away," Murphy said.
"A well-enforced red flag law might have done the trick here."
Robin Lloyd, managing director of the Giffords gun safety group, agreed that hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants will help states enforce and raise awareness of new and existing red flag laws.
"My body betrayed me": the chilling testimony of a woman who survived the shooting outside Chicago
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"A law like the Illinois law is only as good as its enforcement," he said. "If law enforcement, family members and other interested parties don't know about that law, then it's not going to be used," so "its effectiveness is limited," he said.
According to Illinois State Police data released by Gov. JB Pritzker's office, the suspect's only criminal offense was a tobacco possession offense in January 2016, and police had not received any mental health reports related to him. .
The governor's office added that "the clear and present danger report" from September 2019 came in response to threats he made, but that he told police he had no desire to harm himself or others.
Furthermore, the knives were returned to his father after he claimed that they were his.
[“We didn't know where the bullets were coming from”: the terror experienced by survivors of the shooting in Highland Park]
"Unfortunately, every time a mass shooting occurs, it serves as a stark reminder that our gun laws often fall short of the rigorous standards that seem like common sense to most Americans," Pritzker said in a statement.
“I call on all Illinoisans to be aware of and use the Illinois Firearms Warrant Law that is already in place to alert authorities to dangerous individuals with weapons. My Administration will work with the General Assembly to ensure that we stand up to the gun lobby and do everything we can to further strengthen our gun control and red flag laws," he added.