The nut jobs are pretty much left to their own devices UNTIL they hurt themselves or someone else.

As for the ex-con getting a gun. Hell, he probably just went out and bought it. For a long time that stupid paperwork that had to be filled out and signed was never checked. Falsification of information on the form is a felony, but nobody was checking. Nowadays they do a FBI "background" check to see if a buyer is listed anywhere as a felon or nut case.

Or he could have purchased the guns from an individual or stolen them for that matter. I doubt we'll ever get the truth from our media about how he acquired the guns.