Yahoo News
Among the weapons officials have said were in the possession of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were not only several bombs, but handguns, an M-4 carbine rifle and more than 250 rounds of ammunition.
Much of that arsenal was on fiery display when the brothers engaged in a wild gun battle with police in suburban Watertown early Friday, shortly after images of them milling about the marathon's finish line were released to the public by the FBI.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died following that gun battle while a Boston transit police officer was gravely wounded. The Tsarnaev brothers are also the prime suspects in the execution-style shooting of a security officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology a couple of hours before the gun battle.
"There was a lot of firepower employed," White House press secretary Jay Carney told the daily news briefing on Monday.
Neither Tsarnaev brother had licences to carry firearms, police say.
But even if they'd wanted to acquire the weapons legally — unlikely, considering they were allegedly plotting a terrorist attack — they could have obtained them without submitting to a background check under current laws.
Tougher background checks likely would have caused problems for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died following the shootout, given his past brushes with authorities.
Yes, indeed, this is the first high-profile tragedy which points to the terrible fallacy of the Senate vote last week.
There will be more. The pro-gun fanatics will, instead of taking responsibility for these incidents as a inevitable down-side to their policy of gun-rights, will accuse us of dancing in the blood of the poor victims.
But, that's all right. The necessary changes will eventually come. Too bad for the future, unnecessary casualties, the gun-rights folks are so stubborn and self-centered.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
