SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah -- Here in Utah, it’s not hard to get your hands on a gun. Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder would know.
“Unless you have an active legal prohibition or you are openly stated mentally ill, you are going to get a firearm and you will get any firearm that is manufactured almost,” Winder said.
Apparently, the same goes for Florida where a man who'd been interviewed twice by the FBI, was able to legally purchase an AR-15, which he used to shoot more than 100 people at a nightclub Sunday morning.
After condemning the attacks, President Obama spoke about gun control.
“We also have to make sure it's not easy for somebody who decides they want to harm people in this country to be able to obtain weapons to get at them,” Obama said.
Many people, like Rachel Sanders, who runs the nonprofit Alliance for a Better Utah, would like to see stricter laws, to make it harder to buy assault weapons.
“Who needs an assault rifle? Why do we have assault rifles in this country?” Sanders questioned.
Many Utah lawmakers disagree. Instead, Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, said restricting guns is the problem.
“As presidential candidate Trump has said, if we can eliminate those gun-free zones perhaps, we can mitigate the carnage,” Oda said.
On the opposite end, Winder would ideally like to see some more restrictions.
“That seems like a no brainer. If you’re under the watchful eye of a federal law enforcement agency you should not be able to purchase a firearm,” the sheriff said.
However, Winder said his job is to uphold the law, not change it.
“My job is to deal with reality and the reality is we got a sea of weapons out there and my guys are going to be prepared to deal with it,” Winder said.
The sheriff said one of the changes he’s advocating for is armored vehicles, which was what was used in Orlando to get into the nightclub and eventually stop the shooter.
