Bill does make a good point in one area - the system screwed up in NOT showing this idiots' court appearance. From what I gather, this WOULD have flagged him. That was a screw up - but not with the gun shop, not the NICS, but with the court/mental health system.
Guys I dont like NICS much either, but our Libertarian-esque "get rid of the NICS, guns are just tools" is a hard sell for most people. This guy should not have been able to get a gun. Being thrown in front of court and then ordered mental dangerous (or whatever it was) imo prevents him from getting a gun, for good. The mental health people screwed up big time, but theyll try to blame it on the gun 'culture'.
As much as we toss around what gun laws might be brought up, I think the one that will pass the improvement of the NICS act, which I admit has a couple good things in it (supposed to prevent all those mis-denies some here were getting) but I worry people like myself who took anti-depressants as a kid would get me in trouble. (I was never in trouble with the law, no court ordered mental exam, etc)