A law enforcement official says Tree of Life Synagogue shooting suspect Robert Bowers “legally owned his guns.”

On Saturday CNN reported that Bowers had a “license to carry a firearm.” Breitbart News reported that acquiring a carry permit requires a background check, which would mean Bowers would be able to legally purchase firearms.

On Sunday a law enforcement official told the Associated Press that Bowers “legally owned his guns.” This means he was not a prohibited possessor and would have no problem passing a point-of-sale background check for a firearm purchase.

Background checks are a go-to gun control for the Democrat Party and its surrogates, even though such checks are already a demonstrable failure. The checks look backward, at a would-be gun purchaser’s history. If the would-be purchaser has no criminal history then there is nothing to prevent the sale. For this reason, latent criminals–individuals who desire to evil but yet to commit to a crime–have no trouble acquiring guns for their crime via background checks.

Here is a partial list of high profile public attackers who acquired their guns via background checks:

Parkland high school attacker (February 14, 2018)

Texas church attacker (November 5, 2017)

Las Vegas attacker (October 1, 2017)

the Alexandria attacker (June 14, 2017))

Orlando attacker (June 12, 2016)

the UCLA gunman (June 1, 2016))

the San Bernardino attackers (December 2, 2015)

the Colorado Springs attacker (October 31, 2015)

the Umpqua Community College attacker (October 1, 2015)

Alison Parker’s attacker (August 26, 2015)

the Lafayette movie theater attacker (July 23, 2015)

the Chattanooga attacker (July 16, 2015)

the alleged Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal attacker (Jun 17, 2015)

the Muhammad Carton Contest attackers (May 3, 2014)

the Las Vegas cop killers (June 9, 2015)

the Santa Barbara attacker (May 23, 2014)

the Fort Hood attacker (April 2, 2014)

the Arapahoe High School attacker (December 13, 2013)

the D.C. Navy Yard attacker (September 16, 2013)

the Aurora movie theater attacker (July 20, 2012)

Gabby Giffords’ attacker (January 8, 2011)

the Fort Hood attacker (November 5, 2009)

the Virginia Tech attacker (April 16, 2007), and many others.

The list of attackers who acquired their guns via background checks demonstrates the futility of looking at such checks as a way to stop violent attackers.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.