The alleged gunman who killed 49 and wounded 53 in Orlando was a disaffected young person who was openly anti-social and anti-American since as early as the third grade, and was interviewed twice by federal agents about his conduct.
How does someone like this “pass through the cracks” and avoid scrutiny by people who are well-paid and well-equipped to keep U.S. citizens safe?
The guy, Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie, Fla., the U.S.-born son of immigrants from Afghanistan, was so disruptive as a youth that he was sent to an alternative high school and, as an adult, was disciplined on the job for inappropriate remarks about women, minorities and terrorism, according to the Associated Press.
So how was someone like this able to pass freely through society and acquire high-powered weapons without being detected by a country on heightened alert for lone-wolf terrorists?
The short answer is, he wasn’t.
Mateen attracted the attention of the FBI at least two times when he was brought in for questioning in 2013 and 2014, and investigators kept him under surveillance for 10 months before closing both investigations, according to the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
The bureau concluded that Mateen was not a threat despite his reputed connections to terrorist networks and anti-U.S. rhetoric, and took him off its terrorist watch list.
This, obviously, was a mistake. But it is not a simple mistake.
In fact, it is such a huge mistake that it brings into question the value of the entire multimillion-dollar anti-terrorist apparatus that the U.S. has constructed since Sept. 11, 2001.
This is a time of heightened awareness, and U.S. residents understand that.
But if a guy with so many obvious red flags still can walk into a gun store and buy an assault rifle and automatic pistol like Mateen did in the two weeks before he opened fire in the Pulse nightclub without raising concerns from the FBI, it’s hard to understand why law enforcement experts keep saying anybody is safe.
