In the wake of the deadly mass shooting at Sutherland Springs Baptist Church by former Air Force serviceman Devin Patrick Kelley, the Air Force revealed that Kelley’s court-martial that resulted from a domestic violence conviction was never reported to the national background check database. If done properly, it would have been a move that may have prevented Kelley from acquiring the gun he used in the shooting. Following an internal review, the Air Force has found “several dozen” instances of service members’ charges or convictions for serious crimes going unreported to the national background check database.
The Air Force says they aren’t finished with their review, so more unreported service members could be added to the database:
Although officials have examined only a portion of the cases across the Air Force that should have been reported, several dozen cases have already surfaced that were not reported as required. In the weeks since the review began, those cases have been corrected and reported, Air Force officials said.
“The error in the Kelley case was not an isolated incident and similar reporting lapses occurred at other locations,” the Air Force said in a statement. “Although policies and procedures requiring reporting were in place, training and compliance measures were lacking.”
According to the Air Force, they are reviewing around 60,000 cases to determine if they should have been reported by law. Newly discovered incidents will be reported on a rolling basis, the Air Force said.
After the shooting, bipartisan legislation was introduced in the Senate that would have compelled the Air Force and other agencies to conduct similar reviews, but that bill quickly stalled in Congress.
(Via New York Times)