Prior to the Washington Navy Yard shooting that left 13 people dead including the shooter gunman Aaron Alexis attempted to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle in Virginia but was turned away because of state law, according to the New York Times.
Alexis, whose last place of residence was in Ft. Worth, was not allowed to purchase the assault weapon from a Virginia gun store because state law prohibits the sale of such weapons to out-of-state residents. The gun seller could have shipped the weapon back to Alexis' resident if he had shown two proofs of residence, according to CBS News.
Instead Alexis purchased an 870 Remington pump-action shotgun and used that during the shooting rampage, according to the New York Times.
A month before the shooting while in Newport, R.I., Alexis called police to say that he had been forced to change hotel rooms three times because people were following him and keeping him awake. Alexis told police that the people were using a microwave machine to torment him and that there were "voices speaking to him through the wall, flooring and ceiling, the New York Times reports.
Alexis was able to access the Washington Navy Yard because he had a security clearance; the incident in Rhode Island combined with previous incidents including shooting the ceiling of his apartment and an altercation involving the shooting of a neighbor's tires has people wondering how Alexis was able to receive a security clearance.
"The system didn't pick up the red flags because the red flags in this case had not been fed into the system," a Pentagon official told the New York Times. "Perhaps we need to look at the 'filters,' and whether some sorts of behaviors and incidents, even if they do not rise to the level of punishment, should nonetheless be part of the files for review."
Both President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel have called for reviews of security standards in recent weeks in light of the National Security Agency leak by former government contractor Edward Snowden, according to the Washington Post.
"These two incidents combined suggest to me a very flawed system for granting security clearances," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told the New York Times. "Who know how many other Snowdens and Aaron Alexises are out there?"
Alexis received his secret-level clearance while serving as a Navy reservist in March 2008. Despite being discharged in January 2011 after brushes with the law and disagreements with superior officers Alexis kept his clearance when he started working for a defense contractor. A background check only revealed a minor traffic violation, according to the Washington Post.
