2A/AIR FORCE/CRISIS/GUNS: “How a man who was discharged from the US Air Force for assaulting his spouse and child was able to purchase the firearms he used to carry out the deadliest shooting rampage in Texas history is just one of many questions facing investigators as they continue to look for answers on Sunday’s church massacre that left 26 people dead.
On Monday [11-6-17] the Air Force acknowledged it did not relay the killer’s court martial conviction for domestic assault to civilian law enforcement that could have prevented him purchasing the firearms used in the shooting…
Kelley was court-martialed in 2012 for two counts of Article 128 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, assault on his spouse and assault on their child, spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said Monday. Kelley received a bad conduct discharge, confinement for 12 months and a reduction in rank, she said.
The Air Force did not provide a date of the discharge, but his military record indicates he left the service in May 2014.
‘Initial information indicates that Kelley’s domestic violence offense was not entered into the National Criminal Information Center database by the Holloman Air Force Base Office of Special Investigations,’ an Air Force statement issued later Monday said.
The failure to relay the information prevented the entry of his conviction into the federal database that must be checked before someone is able to purchase a firearm. Had his information been in the database, it should have prevented gun sales to Kelley.”
-Zachary Cohen and Ryan Browne, “Air Force failed to relay info that could have stopped firearm sale to gunman,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Nov. 7, 2017 10:29am