Illinois has some of the strictest gun control laws in the U.S. The state requires a Firearms Owner Identification Card (FOID) to purchase certain weapons and the applicant must be 21 or sponsored by a parent.

Oh, and on January 1, 2019 Illinois enacted a Red Flag Law, although lawmakers there called it a Firearms Restraining Order.

If these measures work - and this is proof that they don’t - how did Robert E. Crimo III, 22, legally purchase two rifles, one of those allegedly used to mow down parade watchers in Highland Park on July 4th? Seven innocent people were murdered and 40 were injured.

The red flags were waving for years with this freak.

So far Crimo’s been charged with seven counts of murder. Dozens of other charges will be loaded on, too.

According to Highland Park police, they were summoned to Crimo’s home not once, but twice, in 2019 over complaints of his highly disturbing behavior. In April of that year he threatened suicide and family members summoned authorities. Yet that didn’t land him on a no-gun list.

Five months later, in September - after he threatened to “kill everyone” - police were again called and that time seized 16 knives, a dagger and a sword from Crimo’s home but reportedly found no probable cause for an arrest.

Still, no list for Crimo.

Three months after that, in December of 2019, Crimo applied for a FOID.

Sitting down? His father sponsored his application since “Bobby” was too young to own the gun he wanted.

Unbelievable.

Crimo, with his face tattoos (one looks like cross hatches counting to five), repeated threats of violence and YouTube videos glorifying school shootings, should have been blocked from legal gun ownership by law enforcement and his family multiple times.

He wasn’t.

This maniac - er, alleged maniac - might as well have taken out a billboard that said “I’m Going To Commit An Act Of Violence. Someone Stop Me.”

At the time of the shootings, the alleged mass murderer lived with his father and uncle. It’s unclear which family members summoned the cops to the Crimo home. Still, the situation raises many questions. Number one: Why didn’t his family demand that he be flagged as someone who should not own a firearm? Why didn’t they commit him to a mental institution? Why would they sign for him to purchase a gun?

Didn’t anyone in the family think it was strange that a 21-year-old hadn’t worked since before the pandemic, in 2019? That he was a loner? That he sat inside all day on a computer? That he’d threatened violence more than once?

His uncle told CNN that his nephew is “usually on his own. He’s a lonely, quiet person. He keeps everything to himself,” before adding, “There were no signs that I saw that would make him do this.”

Seriously? Doesn’t sound like anyone was looking very hard. 

At some point, families need to take responsibility for their unstable loved ones. They’re the ones living with these dangerous people. They’re the ones not signing complaints when the police arrive, thus keeping their relative “safe” from the system. They’re the ones looking the other way when mentally ill people bring weapons into the home. 

Even more astonishing, family members sometimes HELP their violent family members possess guns, as allegedly happened in this case.

It’s not the first time.

In the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooter, it was learned that Adam Lanza’s mother, “a gun enthusiast,” gave her mentally ill son access to her guns, despite the fact he lived with her and he suffered from depression, OCD, severe anorexia, autism and some sort of psychosis. He’d taped black garbage bags over his bedrooms windows and was obsessed with school shootings. Yet his mother reportedly encouraged him to go to the range and shoot. Before he left the house to murder dozens of first graders, he shot his mother four times with one of her rifles.

I support the 2nd amendment, and I also support red flag laws and background checks that include juvenile records.

But laws can only do so much.

This guy Crimo had no business owning a gun. The red flags were flying, the laws were in place to prevent him from owning a firearm, but no one was paying attention.