ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Robert Abell, the co-owner of Lotus Gunworks in Jensen Beach, Florida, told ABC News he tried to alert the FBI about a “very suspicious” man, later identified as Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen, who entered his shop trying to buy body armor.

Mr. Mateen entered the shop five or six weeks ago, asking very specific questions about high-end body armor, Mr. Abell told ABC News. When employees told Mr. Mateen they didn’t carry the armor he was requesting, Mr. Mateen made a phone call in a foreign language, hung up and then requested to buy ammunition in bulk.

The questioning — and ammunition request — made the staff uncomfortable so Mr. Abell’s shop denied Mr. Mateen’s purchase and then reported the incident to the FBI office in West Palm Beach. They never heard back.

“We gave them information and everything that took place, and that was the end of the conversation,” Mr. Abell told ABC News.

The mainstream media this week has been trying to push the narrative that gun store owners are irresponsible — that somehow they aide and abed terrorists.

Check out this week’s headlines:

CBS News: “CBS News producer shows how easy it is to buy an assault rifle”

Huffington Post: “It Took Us Just 38 Minutes to Buy an AR-15 in Orlando

Vox: “It took a newspaper columnist 7 minutes to buy an AR-15”

And so on.

It’s as if these news reporters are shocked that if they have a clean record, they can exercise their Second Amendment rights.

That’s why Mr. Abell’s story is so important — and why other mainstream news media have so far yawned at it.

Mr. Abell’s team did the right thing — it’s the federal government, over which President Obama resides — that didn’t follow up.

Probably because they thought Mr. Abell was racially profiling.

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