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There is a lot we don’t know about Ryan Routh, the man who is accused of trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a golf course in Florida last Sunday.
What we do know is that he was prohibited by law from owning firearms because of past criminal convictions but was still able to acquire a gun. It is a sadly familiar circumstance. After far too many mass shootings, murders and domestic violence situations, we learn that the perpetrator, despite prohibitions on gun ownership, was able to obtain firearms. Thankfully, in the most recent case involving a threat against Trump, no one was harmed.
It does not negate the need to change laws to reduce violence, but the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, as well as gun sellers, must do a better job of keeping guns out of the hands of people who are prohibited from having them. Yes, people can steal and borrow guns, but too often people who are prohibited by law from owning guns are able to buy them.
For example, federally licensed firearm dealers are able to sell a gun three days after a request for a required background check if that review is still pending. In 2021, the FBI reported more than 5,200 cases where prohibited users purchased firearms because of this provision.
In addition, guns can be purchased through private sales that do not, in most states, require a background check. Maine lawmakers and Gov. Janet Mills moved to close this hole in the law by requiring a background check be done before all advertised gun sales in Maine. The supplemental budget passed by lawmakers this spring includes a provision, prompted by Mills, to toughen penalties for those who sell guns to prohibited users.
These recent steps in Maine are changes that other states should also enact to keep firearms away from people who are barred from having them.
We do not yet know how Routh obtained the weapon he had at the Trump golf course in Florida. But we do know that he had an extensive criminal record, including a felony conviction in 2002 for possession of a fully automatic machine gun, which was termed “a weapon of mass destruction,” by North Carolina authorities. We also know U.S. government agencies were alerted to concerns about Routh and his behavior.
Chelsea Walsh met Routh in Ukraine. She was there volunteering as a nurse and aid working in the early days of the Russian invasion. Routh was trying to recruit foreign fighters to fight the Russians.
Walsh told the Associated Press that Routh became increasingly angry and erratic and talked about his detailed plans to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was “a ticking time bomb,” she recalled telling U.S. Customs and Border Protection during an interview on her return to the U.S. in June 2022. Walsh later shared her concerns with tips to both the FBI and Interpol, she said.
An aid worker filed an online report with the State Department and warned humanitarian groups of her concerns about Routh’s efforts to recruit Afghan fighters on behalf of Ukraine. Routh’s own interview with Customs and Border Protection in 2023 prompted a referral for a possible inquiry by Homeland Security Investigations, The Associated Press reported. The agencies told the AP they could not comment on ongoing investigations.
In 2019, the FBI received a tip that Routh was in possession of a weapon, which was illegal because of his felony convictions. Although the tipster later backed off and didn’t provide additional information, the FBI has said this information was passed on to law enforcement in Hawaii, where Routh was then living.
According to law enforcement officials, Routh waited on the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, for 12 hours on Sept. 15.
That afternoon, as the former president played a round of golf, a Secret Service agent who was surveilling the course ahead of Trump spotted a gun barrel sticking out of the trees. Secret Service agents opened fire and Routh fled, according to court documents. Trump was not injured.
Routh was captured about an hour later. An AK-47-style rifle, backpack and a digital camera were found in the trees where Routh was presumed to be waiting. The serial number had been rubbed off the gun.
On Sept. 16, Routh was charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. On Tuesday, he was indicted on a charge of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, namely Trump. He was also charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer.
“I figured he was either dead or in prison by now,” Tracy Fulk, the charging officer in the North Carolina case, told WIRED the day of Routh’s arrest in Florida. “I had no clue that he had moved on and was continuing his escapades.”
Routh wasn’t in prison. Instead, he was able to obtain a gun despite being prohibited from doing so, and his escapades now include an alleged assassination attempt against Trump.
The details of this apparent attempt on Trump’s life are shocking. Part of the chain of events leading up to it, however, is all too familiar in cases of gun violence in America.
Yes, we need to improve mental health services. But more also needs to be done to keep guns away from people who legally shouldn’t have them.
