Lack of Air Force Oversight on Guns Blamed for Texas Church Massacre

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez has determined that the Air Force was mostly responsible for the 2017 massacre at a Sutherland Springs, Tex., church because it failed to submit records to federal law enforcement that could have prevented the attacker from buying guns, reports the Washington Post. The gunman, former airman Devin Kelley, was convicted of domestic assault years before he opened fire during Sunday morning services, killing 25 people including a pregnant woman and her unborn child, and injuring 20 others. That military conviction would have prevented him from passing the background check for buying guns, but the Air Force never submitted his criminal record or fingerprints to the FBI.

Rodriguez wrote that government inaction “proximately caused the deaths and injuries” of multiple worshippers at the church that day, including several children and a pregnant woman. In breaking down liability, Rodriguez apportioned 60 percent to parts of the Air Force and the remaining 40 percent to the gunman. Not long after the shooting, the Air Force said it had failed to submit information on the gunman’s domestic violence conviction to the background check system. The following year, the Pentagon’s Inspector General released a report saying “there was no valid reason” for the Air Force’s failures and found four missed opportunities to submit his fingerprints, and two missed chances to submit a report on his domestic violence conviction.