"Patchwork” of U.S. laws allowed Waffle House shooter to keep his guns

Inconsistent state gun laws allowed Travis Reinking, the man suspected of killing four people in a Nashville-area Waffle House Sunday, to keep an assault-style weapon, even though he had a history of mental illness, was known to police, and was once arrested in front of the White House.

Reinking’s run-ins with police date back to at least May 2016, and helped lead state police to strip him of his right to possess a gun in Illinois, his home state. But because Tennessee’s gun laws are far more lax, Reinking would still have been legally able to buy a gun in that state, officials told VICE News.

Reinking carried out the attack with an AR-15-style assault weapon half-naked, wearing only a green jacket. He then escaped on foot and managed to elude police for more than a day before he was arrested Monday. But it’s already clear that his past set off alarm bells among law enforcement — and, potentially, should have set off many more. Now, Tennessee lawmakers have just days to pass a law that gun control advocates say could stop dangerous people from holding onto their guns.

Reinking ran into police multiple times when he lived in Illinois: In May 2016, he told police that Taylor Swift was stalking him and hacking his cellphone, according to the Peoria Journal Star; in June 2017, he threatened someone with his AR-15, before heading to a public pool and exposing himself; in August 2017, he told a sheriff’s deputy that 20 to 30 people had hacked into his phone and computer.

In July 2017, the Secret Service arrested Reinking when he tried to enter a restricted area at the White House. Special Agent Todd Hudson in Nashville told the Associated Press that Reinking “wanted to set up a meeting with the president.”

“The police reports speak for themselves,” Tazewell County Sheriff Bob Huston told reporters at a Sunday press conference, as he handed out reports outlining Reinking’s encounters with police, the Peoria Journal reported. “I think anyone can conclude after reading them that there’s evidence [Reinking] has mental health issues.”

Illinois State Police revoked Reinking’s firearms owners identification (FOID) card in August 2017 Huston said, which stripped Reinking of his right to possess guns in Illinois. Police confiscated Reinking’s two hunting rifles, a 9mm handgun, and an AR-15 — and then gave the guns to Reinking’s father, who still had a valid firearms owners identification card.

“He was allowed to do that after he assured deputies that he would keep them secure and away from Travis,” Huston said, adding that the officers didn’t believe they had the legal authority to keep the guns away from Reinking’s father. “We have no information about how Travis came back into possession of those firearms.”

But Tennessee, unlike Illinois, doesn’t require every firearm owner to have a license simply to possess a gun. Most states, in fact, require gun owners to get a permit only if they want to conceal their weapons when they carry them.

While Reinking moved to Tennessee to take a construction job last fall, it’s unclear where, exactly, he listed his legal residency. People are only able to purchase guns in the state where they legally reside. However, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed to VICE News that, according to records on Reinking that are accessible to the agency, Reinking was legally able to possess guns in the state of Tennessee — and even to purchase more, if he’d wanted to.

“I can tell you that given the history we are able to view, there would not have been any reasons provided that would have been deniable, had he attempted to purchase a firearm in Tennessee,” agency spokesperson Susan Niland said in an email. “If the record indicates an individual had been disqualified by another state, that would have been a reason for us to deny an application.

But typically, records don’t indicate that kind of information, explained J. Adam Skaggs, chief counsel for Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which supports stricter gun regulations.

“Basically, if somebody applies for a permit to carry a gun in a particular state, they’re going to generally do a background check that’s going to look for involuntary commitments and felony convictions and that sort of stuff,” Skaggs said. (Under federal law, people who’ve been convicted of certain felonies or have been involuntarily committed to a mental health hospital are barred from possessing guns.) “But, you know, generally states aren’t going to query all 50 other states, ‘Hey, did this guy ever have a permit in your state and get it revoked?’”

The Tennessee attorney general’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the legality of Reinking’s guns. But such differences between states can defang authorities’ ability to enforce the few gun laws that are already have on the books, gun control advocates say.

“That inconsistent patchwork creates huge avenues for risk to the public safety with people, who in one state would never have the ability to buy a gun being able to just get in their car and drive to another state can [buy a gun], essentially with no questions asked,” said Kris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

A handful of states have enacted laws designed to help with situations like Reinking’s. In states with so-called “red flag laws,” courts are allowed to intervene and give law enforcement officials permission to temporarily disarm individuals who they suspect to be dangerous to themselves or others. The idea, advocates say, is to stop people like Parkland shooter Nicholas Cruz — who community members considered dangerous — from ever getting their hands on a gun.

Just six states have red flag laws, according to the Trace, which create rulings sometimes called “gun violence restraining orders” or “extreme risk protective orders.” Neither Illinois nor Tennessee are currently one of them. But if Illinois had a red flag law, Brown suggests, Reinking may have never gotten his guns back.

“If an extreme risk law had been in place, like they had in California, the guns would have been removed and held by a third party, not a family member,” Brown said, explaining that law enforcement officials should hold onto guns surrendered under extreme risk protective orders.

Lawmakers in both states, however, have introduced “red flag” legislation this year. Tennessee’s regular legislative session ends this month, giving lawmakers just days to pass the bill.

Even the NRA, which once dubbed red flag laws “gun surrender bill[s],” now seems on-board with them: Last month, it released a Youtube video of Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, the NRA’s political arm, calling for Congress to “stop dangerous people before they act.” But in a comment underneath the video, the NRA noted that it didn’t support any existing red flag laws.

The NRA-ILA didn’t immediately return a request for comment on its position on the Tennessee “red flag” bills.

Cover image: In this photo released by the Metro Nashville Police Department, Travis Reinking sits in a police car after being arrested in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday, April 23, 2018. Police said Reinking opened fire at a Waffle House early Sunday, killing at least four people. (Metro Nashville Police Department via AP)