Banned from guns, Texas gave him a license anyway. Citizens paid the price. [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

TheMoonIsTooSMALLHat Retweeted

Man, this story.

Link to tweet

LOCAL // TEXAS POLITICS
Banned from guns, Texas gave him a license anyway. Citizens paid the price.
By Eric Dexheimer, Austin Bureau June 6, 2019 Updated: June 7, 2019 2:38 p.m.

If you wanted to invent an avatar to represent the type of person who should not have easy access to firearms, you might come up with someone like Heon “Hank” Yoo.

In 2013, after threatening to shoot his resident counselor at Rutgers University, the then-19-year-old Yoo was committed to a New Jersey psychiatric hospital, where he was diagnosed with “aggressive homicidal ideation and explosive personality disorder.” A year later a friend was alarmed enough at Yoo’s behavior at a shooting range to alert police. He “would shoot at the head of the target every time, even though range policy specifically prohibited such contact,” he reported. Even after warnings, Yoo “continued to shoot at the head.”

Yoo was admitted to a psychiatric clinic again in 2015 “after repetitive disruptions [and] homicidal threats.” Several colleges banned him from their campuses. He was twice rejected for military service because of his unstable mental health. Online, he became known as the “Asian Nazi” for his racist rants and threats of violence against blacks and Jews.

Yet the Texas Department of Public Safety issued Yoo a license to carry a handgun. .... Later, when the public safety agency realized its error and moved to take away his license, the process took months — during which time Yoo continued using the wrongly issued permit to buy more guns. Even when it finally revoked the license, the Department of Public Safety merely mailed Yoo a letter asking him to send it back. Instead, he used it to buy even more guns.
....

Charged with the technicality of lying on his firearm purchase forms about his nationality — although he is a legal resident, Yoo stated he was a U.S. citizen — Yoo’s trial, in which he represented himself, lasted three days last November. A month ago, he was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. ... “These situations often end badly,” U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown said in a statement. “It was good that law enforcement worked together to get him off the streets as soon as they did.”
....