Let's review:

It now appears that John Allen Muhammad, despite being prevented by law from possessing a firearm, obtained a Bushmaster XM15 rifle with features that mimic those of banned guns ("It complies with the letter of the law, but it is still an assault rifle"), possibly at a gun show or from a private seller, or possibly at a gun shop that failed an ATF audit two years ago by being unable to produce sales records for 150 weapons, as required by law -- a shop owned by a man who told one story about Muhammad's weapon to investigators and a different story to reporters.

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"A Justice Department study last January estimated that there were two million restraining orders around the nation, but that only 590,000 had been entered in the system," Fox Butterfield writes in today's New York Times.

"A bill that would give the states $375 million a year for the next three years to catch up on the backlog passed the House of Representatives but has been stalled in the Senate by opposition from Republicans."