James Holmes, suspect in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 injured was able to buy 6,000 rounds of ammunition online with no background checks.
The suspect purchased the weapons over a four-month period without raising any red flags on law enforcement or anti-terrorist radar.
Gun policy experts have reported that Holmes did not have to submit to a background check or register the weapons he was purchasing. The outlets that sold them to him did not have to report the large purchases to state or local law enforcement or to the FBI.
Internet sales of weapons like the ones Holmes bought, are easy to transact and virtually regulation free in the US. A bill came to Congress in 1999 that would have changed that status, but the bill was defeated.
A federal law prevents felons from buying body armor like the kind used by Holmes, but since Holmes had no criminal record, this law did not apply to him.
A recent UK-released film called "Cleanskin" suggested that terrorist cells could use similarly record-free or "clean skinned" individuals for terrorist activities.
Holmes, who was silent in court today when brought before authorities, is not presumed to have any connection with terrorism, although nothing is currently known of his motives.
In February, USA Today’s special correspondent Jeff Rossen quoted Steve Barborini, a former supervisor for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as saying the Internet was "a weapons bazaar for criminals."
Rossen and his associates conducted undercover ‘sales’ from online sites. One seller met the undercover buyers in a pharmacy parking lot with a 50-caliber sniper rifle—powerful enough to bring down a helicopter or low flying small aircraft.
In September 2011, NYPD officials revealed "doomsday scenario" plans by which similar 50-caliber weapons mounted on helicopters could take down a hijacked jet.
