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Shane Tamura, the gunman who drove from Las Vegas to Manhattan and Monday and people, was issued a , despite a .
Sources said the gunman had at least two mental health incidents in 2022 and 2024. He was also arrested for trespassing in 2023. Law enforcement sources confirmed that he obtained the concealed carry permit in spring 2022.
Tamura, 27, bought the fully assembled AR 15-style rifle for $1,400 from his supervisor at the Las Vegas casino where he worked. The NYPD said the supervisor's purchase of the rifle was legal, but it hasn't yet determined whether Tamura broke any law in buying it from him. The supervisor, Rick Ackley, complied with state and federal gun laws in the sale to Tamura, his attorney, Chris Rasmussen, said.
The NYPD also said they found a handgun in Tamura's car, which was purchased legally with the concealed carry permit in June from a gun store in Las Vegas. A tipster told law enforcement that same month that the shooter had purchased a large amount of ammunition and an aftermarket trigger.
Second Amendment expert Ian Bartrum, an emeritus law professor at the University of Las Vegas, noted that while the circumstances of how the suspect bought the gun used in the New York mass shooting are murky, he was legally allowed to carry and transport it within the state under Nevada law.
"It's the Wild West," he said. Tamura's right to transport the weapon across state lines would have been subject to gun bans and other controls on the books in states he drove through, but so in practice, such restrictions would be difficult to enforce.
It is illegal in New York to possess or transport assault-style weapons, but the state law is not designed to stop a shooter who drives into New York from out of state, as Tamura did.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called for a national assault weapon ban, posting on social media "a gunman from a state with weak gun laws brought an AR-15 to New York."
There has not been a national assault weapons ban in the U.S. since the last one expired in 2004. Former President Joe Biden, who was one of the architects of the 1994 ban, urged Congress to pass a new ban but lacked the political support for it. In 2022, Biden signed the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun control legislation in three decades, which enhanced background checks for gun buyers under 21 years of age, provided billions for mental health services and closed the so-called "boyfriend loophole" to prevent convicted domestic abusers from purchasing a firearm for five years.
During his first term, President Trump signed a ban on bump stocks — which was later overturned by the Supreme Court, another indication of the challenges facing gun legislation. In 2022, the a 108-year-old New York law that limited who can obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun in public. Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said New York's "proper-cause requirement" prevented law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment right, and held its licensing regime is unconstitutional.
A found 54% of Americans want stricter gun laws, while 30% want to keep the laws as they are and 16% want less strict laws. But passing any type of gun control legislation remains difficult, with TheNews polling in 2022 showing deep partisan divides among Americans on the issue. Even if Democrats, who largely support gun control measures, held majorities in Congress, they would likely need to win the support of Republican senators to secure the 60 votes necessary to allow the consideration of any such bill.
Although Nevada has some libertarian characteristics, Bartrum said the state's gun laws are considered more middle of the road for the U.S. — even though Las Vegas suffered the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, when a in 2017, killing 58 people and wounding nearly 500.
Before the Las Vegas shooting, Nevada voters approved a ballot initiative for background checks, which then-state Attorney General Adam Laxalt declared enforceable. But Nevada's state government in 2019 ushered in new gun control measures, including background checks on private sales and transfers and some "red flag" legislation, according to the . Under , courts can issue orders for the seizure of guns from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others.
Bartrum said that there has been "pretty broad bipartisan support for even things like background checks," which he described as "not particularly controversial or onerous." But he noted that it has been nearly impossible to enact new gun legislation.
"Despite that the technology is ever moving forward, the law is sort of stuck in 1865," he said. "So it's a pretty, pretty … illogical system of regulation."
