“If you are a law-abiding citizen, then we can sell you that gun”: How easy is it to buy an AR-15?

PARKLAND, Florida — Police said Nikolas Cruz, the suspected shooter in Parkland, Florida, used an AR-15 when he opened fire on his teachers and classmates at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday. Seventeen people were killed. 

There is a gun store is a mile from the school. 

“Let me give my condolences to all the victims and their families,” said store owner Moti Adika. But Adika says the gun isn’t the problem.

“If you’re going to ban these guns, it’s going to prevent those law abiding citizens from defending themselves,” Adika said. 

To get an AR-15 Adika says “you could fill this form up, we run your information.” 

“If you are a law-abiding citizen, then we can sell you that gun,” Adika said. “The whole process can take no more than 15 minutes.”

Adika says you can walk out of the store with an AR-15 if you have a concealed carry license.

Suspected shooter Nikolas Cruz didn’t have a concealed carry license. Under county law he had to wait five days, after passing a background check to get the gun, which he bought legally at another store.

AR-15s were used in six of the deadliest mass shootings since 2012.

Some Parkland parents want to eradicate the AR-15.

“There is absolutely zero need for an assault rifle in this country,” said Angela Goad. “And do I think that our mental health system, as a former social worker, I think that we need help.”

Registered Republicans Glenn and Angela Goad say the shooting at their 14-year-old daughter’s school has changed their view on guns.

“I’m embarrassed as a father and as an American that it took this event to make me have emotion about this — because the children of Sandy Hook were just as important as the children in Parkland,” Glenn Goad said. 

The couple told us that parents have been holding meetings to try to figure out how to bring about real change. At the main memorial in Parkland, there’s been a steady stream of mourners, paying their respects.