Texas church shooter Devin Kelley was just one of “several dozen” criminals who are allowed to purchase firearms because the Air Force failed to report them to the FBI.
An Air Force spokeswoman announced progress in a review of Air Force cases like Kelley’s, saying “so far we’ve corrected several dozen records,” CNN reported Tuesday. Kelley was convicted of domestic battery and was discharged from the military, but the Air Force failed to report his crime to the FBI, a step that could have prevented him from purchasing the Ruger AR-556 he used to kill 26 people and injure 20 more in a Texas church Nov. 5.
“Although policies and procedures requiring reporting were in place, training and compliance measures were lacking,” an Air Force statement read.
Teams of investigators “are aggressively working to ensure 100 percent compliance,” the statement continued. The Air Force has devoted two task forces of 30 personnel to conducting the review, which is expected to take several more months. They will likely uncover dozens more cases like Kelley’s, in addition to those they’ve already corrected.
The Daily Caller News Foundation previously found that the military had only reported a single Kelley-like crime to the FBI, as of November 2017.
“The Department of Defense submits all Dishonorable Discharges to the NICS Indices for the Air Force, as well as for the Army, Navy, and Marines. DoD submits these monthly. As of 10/31/2017, there were 11,189 Dishonorable Discharge entries made by the DoD. As of 11/6/17, there are 2,248 Dishonorable Discharge entries and 1 Mental Health entry from the Air Force within the NICS Indices. The DoD also has 1 entry for a felony conviction and 1 for Mental Health,” FBI spokesman Stephen G. Fischer Jr. said in a statement to TheDCNF.
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