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U.S. NEWSWednesday 27 December 2017
Cities sue Defense Department
over gun-check system failures
By COLLEEN LONG the Defense Department’s
Associated Press obligation to submit re-
NEW YORK (AP) — Three cords.
large U.S. cities filed a fed- Military officials previously
eral lawsuit Tuesday against acknowledged problems
the Department of De- with their reporting.
fense, arguing that many A Pentagon spokesman on
service members who are Tuesday said he couldn’t
disqualified from gun own- comment specifically on
ership weren’t reported to the lawsuit.
the national background “The department continues
check system. to work with the services as
New York City, San Francis- they review and refine their
co and Philadelphia said policies and procedures
In this Nov. 5, 2017 photo, investigators work at the scene of a
deadly shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs,
Texas.
(Jay Janner/San Antonio Express/AP)
in court papers that the to ensure qualifying crimi-
military’s broken system for nal history information is
relaying such information submitted to the FBI,” said
helped spur the massacre Tom Crosson, a Pentagon
of 26 people inside a Texas spokesman.
church last month. The Defense Department’s
“This failure on behalf of the failure to report “significant
Department of Defense numbers” of disqualifying
has led to the loss of inno- records to the FBI’s nation-
cent lives by putting guns in al background check sys-
the hands of criminals and tem allowed former U.S. Air
those who wish to cause Force member Devin P. Kel-
immeasurable harm,” New ley to buy a rifle and shoot
York Mayor Bill de Blasio 26 people to death Nov. 5
said in a statement. “New in a Sutherland Springs, Tex-
York City is joining Philadel- as, church, the lawsuit said.
phia and San Francisco to Kelley had been convicted
stand up to the Depart- of assaulting family mem-
ment of Defense and de- bers in a 2012 court martial
mand they comply with and should not have been
the law and repair their allowed to purchase a gun.
drastically flawed system.” Air Force leaders already
Local law enforcement of- acknowledged that the
ficials rely on the FBI’s da- service failed to alert the
tabase to conduct back- FBI to Kelley’s criminal his-
ground checks on gun tory and that they discov-
permit applications and ered “several dozen” other
to monitor purchases. It such reporting omissions.
must be up-to-date in or- They said that while policies
der to prevent people from and procedures requiring
wrongly getting guns, the reporting were in place,
cities’ attorneys wrote. training and compliance
The lawsuit filed in federal measures were lacking.
court in Alexandria, Virgin- And Army leaders have
ia, seeks an injunction and said their service also has
judicial oversight to ensure similar gaps.q
ongoing compliance with
