A story of apparently missing background check records, a gun purchased by a dangerous individual, and fatal domestic violence in last week's Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Shortly after his estranged wife was shot in a St. Louis Park parking lot, Michael C. Iheme, called 911 and said, "I have killed the woman that mess my life up.... a woman that had destroyed me," according to charges filed Friday.

Iheme, 50, was charged with first-degree, premeditated murder in the death of Anthonia E. Iheme, 28. He is being held on $1 million bail in the Hennepin County jail.

Anthonia Iheme was shot Thursday as she left work at the Sholom Home West, 3620 Phillips Pkwy., an assisted-living center. Two witnesses reported seeing a man matching Iheme's description with a gun near his wife's car in the parking lot.

Hennepin County court records show that she had an active harassment restraining order against Iheme. The supporting affidavit suggests a history of domestic abuse, including threats by Iheme to kill his wife. The complaint said police in Brooklyn Park, where the couple lived most recently, had a number of domestic assault calls.

...

On Thursday, Iheme was arrested at the scene and a semi-automatic handgun was found near his car, police said. Inside, police found a gun permit and Cabela's receipt for the gun, charges said. He told arresting officers: "I called the police.... I shot her. ... I shot her."

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Why did Minnesota apparently fail to keep Mr. Iheme - who had a reported restraining order filed against him - from buying a firearm?

Even worse, how could the state allow him to hold a concealed carry permit?

According to a 2007 report, Minnesota supplied only 41% of its felony records to the Brady background check system.

Congressional testimony last year reported that in 2003, less than 50% of protection orders had been submitted to the Brady background check system nationwide. While the NCIC protection order file has grown since then, its proportion of the total is unclear, as is Minnesota's share in particular.

What does seem clear from this report is that - like at Virginia Tech - a prohibited purchaser passed a background check because a state failed to supply his records to the system.

He bought a gun, and now a woman is dead.

ADDED: More coverage, from KARE NBC-11 (Minneapolis):

... Two witnesses say Michael Iheme walked up to his wife when she got into her car and fired two gun shots. Anthonia Iheme's car lurched forward and hit a van before rolling down a hill. One of Anthonia Iheme's co-workers claims she saw the defendant follow the car then fire several more shots into the vehicle.

...

Hennepin County records show a Harrassment Restraining Order taken out by Anthonia Iheme against her husband. The affidavit reveals a long history of domestic abuse and death threats. Brooklyn Park Police were also called to their home several times for domestic assaults.

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In the Cincinnati Enquirer:

A 71-year-old College Hill preacher was convicted Monday of aggravated menacing for pointing a gun and cursing at a female driver who cut him off in a June 23 road rage incident.

Thomas Howell, the founder and preacher at the First Commandment Church of the Living God in Walnut Hills, was convicted Monday of the first-degree misdemeanor by Hamilton County Municipal Judge Brad Greenberg.

Howell was driving his car from his College Hill home to his church the morning of June 23. He turned at the intersection of Burnet and Forest avenues when, he testified, a car cut him off.

The other car was driven by April Evans, a cook at two local restaurants.

She testified the preacher pulled up alongside her car, pointed a gun at her, called her a name and asked if she knew who she was messing with before threatening to shoot.

...

When police arrived, Howell told them he had a gun – it was in a holster strapped to his hip – and he had a permit to carry it.

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When, exactly, did Rev. Howell stop being a "law-abiding gun owner"?

Was it before or after his road rage incident?

Either way, his concealed carry permit apparently didn't stop him from committing aggravated menacing.

Another "law-abiding gun owner," except when he's caught with drugs, drug paraphernalia, and a small caliber handgun.

From two reports last week in The Morning News, the first here:

... Defensive tackle Ernest Mitchell was pulled over in Forrest City on June 30, and according to a police spokesperson, an officer found a small caliber gun, drug paraphernalia and what was believed to be a small amount of marijuana in Mitchell's car.

Bill Sadler, public information officer for the Arkansas State Police, said Tuesday that Mitchell wasn't arrested and instead was cited for multiple offenses and then allowed to leave.

...

[Arkansas Coach Bobby] Petrino said Mitchell has a permit for the gun found in his car, adding that the senior has the firearm for target practice.

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The second posted here:

Arkansas defensive tackle Ernest Mitchell paid a $150 fine on Thursday to settle charges stemming from a traffic stop in Forrest City late last month, according to a spokesperson with the St. Francis County District Court.

The spokesperson, who asked not to be identified, said Mitchell appeared in court on Thursday and paid the fine before leaving.

Mitchell was pulled over in Forrest City on June 30, and during the stop, an Arkansas state police officer found a gun, drug paraphernalia and what was believed to be a small amount of marijuana in Mitchell’s car.

The senior wasn’t arrested, but he was cited for improper display of tags, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and simultaneous possession of drugs and a firearm. He had a permit for the small caliber gun in his car.

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Was Mr. Mitchell a "law-abiding gun owner" simply by virtue of his concealed carry permit, as the gun lobby would contend?

Apparently not.

No word on whether Mr. Mitchell's permit will be revoked or suspended.

The headline in the Memphis Commercial Appeal reads: "Felons slip through cracks in system to carry firearms."

Read it here:

... These breakdowns in communication have allowed some felons to stay legally armed.

Take, for example, the case of Dementrius Roberson, who received a gun permit in May 2005. Nearly two years later, on March 6, 2007, the 58-year-old Memphian was in a traffic accident. During a dispute with the other driver, Roberson pulled out his gun and fired, accidentally wounding a bystander. Roberson pleaded guilty to felony reckless endangerment and is now on probation.

According to state records, however, Roberson's gun permit won't expire until 2009.

Lisa Knight, manager of the state's handgun unit, said officials were aware felons might be able to renew permits after September 2006 -- yet those same officials did not correct the problem until February of this year. That's when the handgun permits unit merged with the Tennessee Highway Patrol's Criminal Investigations Division, qualifying the unit as a law enforcement agency and giving it access once again to the FBI's national database.

The department is also now comparing its gun-permit data with felony data maintained by the state Department of Corrections.

Since the reviews began earlier this year, the Department of Safety has sent out 99 permit-revocation letters statewide, though not all are for felony convictions. Some permits are being revoked because of DUI charges and orders of protection.

However, until recently, the Department of Safety's director was unaware a problem even existed.

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More evidence that - as the news continues to show week after week - not all concealed carry permit-holders are "law-abiding gun owners," after all.

"It was a senseless armed robbery over a $129 car stereo," one witness said.

In the St. Petersburg Times:

Sean Ellenberger of St. Petersburg was a 39-year-old teacher, a techie and a science and politics buff who dreamed of having a wife and family.

He had little in common with Titus Hill, 19, of Seffner, an aspiring college student who dreamed of becoming a rap star.

Late Friday night, they shot each other to death in a midnight gun battle in a working-class suburban neighborhood.

The shooting erupted as Hill and an accomplice tried to rob Ellenberger outside the home of Bob Mess, 48, a longtime friend who had just installed a new stereo in Ellenberger's Jeep Cherokee, Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies said.

Hill carried a handgun, but so did Ellenberger, a gun enthusiast with a concealed weapons permit.

Mess said the two engaged in a running shootout. As it ended, Hill limped feebly to a getaway car, Mess said. Ellenberger lay in the middle of Orange Avenue, screaming, "I've been hit. Call 911."

Within hours, each was dead.

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As Tom Toles once ruefully observed: