Giffords Law Center Responds to New Federal Report Detailing How the Air Force Failed to Submit Sutherland Springs Shooter’s Criminal Record to FBI’s National Background Check System

 New analysis explains  Department  of Defense’s routine failures to report disqualifying record to the national background check system 

December 7, 2018 — Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence responded to a new report that confirms yet again that the U.S. Air Force failed to submit the criminal record of the perpetrator of the Sutherland Springs shooting to the FBI’s national background check system. That error allowed an individual with a history of serious domestic violence that disqualified him from legally possessing a gun to nevertheless buy multiple firearms and, on November 5, 2017, to enter the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs and kill 26 churchgoers, injuring 20 other individuals. The new analysis eliminates any possible remaining doubt that along with the Air Force, the entire Department of Defense (DoD) has routinely failed to report disqualifying records to the national background check system even though they have a long-standing legal obligation to do so.

Statement from Adam Skaggs, Chief Counsel at Giffords Law Center:

“Because of the Air Force’s failure to follow the law, the community of Sutherland Springs will never be the same. This tragedy could have been prevented if the military had complied with its clear and unambiguous legal duty to report disqualifying records into the background check system, so that an obviously dangerous person could not pass a background check and acquire a gun. If this were an isolated problem, then Sutherland Springs might be a single tragedy, but the military has known about its reporting problems for two decades and, outrageously, has failed to address them. After twenty years of illegal and dangerous failures, it’s time for action.”

After the shooting, it was later revealed the gunman had been court-martialed for two counts of domestic violence and had received a Bad Conduct Discharge from the Air Force after assaulting his first wife and cracking the skull of his baby stepson. That prior conviction should have disqualified him from ever buying or possessing any guns. But because the Air Force never entered that information into the FBI database for background checks on gun purchasers, he was still able to pass a background check and buy the assault rifle used in the Texas church shooting.

After the shooting, Giffords Law Center supported the efforts of three cities that filed a lawsuit on behalf seeking an injunction and judicial oversight to ensure that DoD consistently meets its legal obligation to submit records to the FBI for inclusion in the background check system. Under the judicial order requested, the DoD and its branches would be compelled to ensure current and past disqualifying records are filed to the background check system, as is already required by law. DoD would also be required to report back to the court regularly on its compliance efforts. The case is currently on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

The DoD has a well-documented history of failing to report disqualifying records to the FBI:

• In 1997, the DoD Inspector General reported that the Air Force failed to submit appropriate records in approximately 50% of its cases; the Navy failed to submit final records in approximately 94% of its cases; and the Army failed to submit records in approximately 79% of its cases.
• Eighteen years later, in 2015, the DoD Inspector General reported that the same problems persisted, and the Air Force still failed to submit records in approximately 32% of its cases; the Navy still failed to submit records in approximately 25% of its cases; and the Marine Corps failed to submit records in approximately 33% of its cases.
• In December 2017, the DoD Inspector General reported that the Air Force failed to submit records in approximately 14% of its cases; the Navy failed to submit records in approximately 36% of its cases; the Army failed to submit records in approximately 41% of its cases; and the Marine Corps failed to submit records in approximately 36% of its cases.
• The DoD Acting Inspector General testified to Congress in April that these problems persisted because DoD simply “didn’t take [his office’s] recommendations as seriously as they should have.”

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