Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered a review of the government’s firearms background-checking system after a man with a history of violence and mental illness killed 26 in Texas this month.
Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, legally purchased the rifle that he used to attack the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on November 5, despite being kicked out of the military for violent tendencies.
Now Sessions has ordered a review of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICBCS) to find out how that happened.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is demanding a review of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICBCS) and how suspect parties are reported to it
This comes after Devin Kelley (left) shot dead 26 people in Sutherland Springs Baptist Church (right) on November 5. Kelley had a history of domestic abuse and mental illness
Sessions has ordered the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to find out if government agencies are failing to report people to the NICBCS.
That’s likely inspired by the fact that Kelley was dishonorably discharged from the Air Force in 2014 for bad conduct.
That came after he was court-martialed in 2012 and pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife and breaking his toddler stepson’s skull.
He was also put in a mental health facility while in the Air Force after he smuggled weapons onto his air force base and threatened self-harm.
Despite all of this, his superior officers failed to record the information with the NICBCS, so although the domestic abuse should have prohibited him from buying guns, he was able to purchase four from 2012-2014.
The attorney general also wants a report on how often authorities investigate and prosecute people for lying about their histories and other details when applying to buy a gun.
Kelley had lied about not having a history of domestic violence when he bought the AR-556 rifle used in the shooting.
The AG has also asked for the format of the NICBCS application to be examined.
And he told the FBI and Defense Department to work with the ATF to identify any barriers to allowing information to be shared freely between the agencies.
Sessions wrote in his memo that the NICBCS ‘is critically important to protecting the American public from firearms-related violence.
‘It is, however, only as reliable and robust as the information that federal, state, local and tribal government entities make available to it.’
Kelley bought this AR-556 along with two other guns from 2012-14. Had the Air Force put his court martial for domestic abuse into the system, he wouldn’t have been able to do so