The White House conceded Friday that new gun regulations probably wouldn’t have prevented the gunman who murdered two television journalists in southwestern Virginia this week.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said it appears that a proposal championed by President Obama to require background checks on purchases at gun shows “would not have applied in this particular case.”

Law enforcement officials said gunman Vester Flanagan used a Glock handgun in Wednesday’s shooting, one of two that he bought last month. He legally bought two Glock model 19 handguns from a Virginia dealer.

Mr. Earnest said the White House has never suggested that one piece of gun legislation would prevent all gun violence in the U.S. But Mr. Earnest said the proposal on background checks, which failed in the Senate in 2013, would prevent other shooting deaths around the country every day.

“There are similarly shocking acts of violence that don’t get as much attention that could be prevented … if Congress weren’t scared of the NRA,” he said.

Flanagan opened fire on WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, during a live broadcast in Virginia on Wednesday, killing both of them. He later killed himself as police closed in.

A third shooting victim, Vicki Gardner, who was being interviewed when Flanagan began shooting, was upgraded from stable to good condition Thursday in a hospital.

Flanagan was fired from WDBJ in 2013.

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