For much of the last 24 hours, questions abounded about how Devin Patrick Kelley got his hands on the gun that killed 26 people. After all, he had been court-martialed by the Air Force in 2012 for a horrific attack on his wife and infant stepson—a move that, under federal law, should have barred him from buying a gun.
Governor Greg Abbott, as well as a number of investigators, openly admitted that Kelley had no business being around a gun. But they were at a loss as to why. Within the last hour, the Air Force admitted that it royally screwed up.
The conviction of the gunman, Devin P. Kelley, for domestic assault on his wife and infant stepson — he had cracked the child’s skull — should have stopped Mr. Kelley from legally purchasing the military-style rifle and three other guns he bought in the last four years. But that information was never entered by the Air Force into the federal database for background checks on gun purchasers, the service said.
“The Air Force has launched a review of how the service handled the criminal records of former Airman Devin P. Kelley following his 2012 domestic violence conviction,” the Air Force said in a statement. “Federal law prohibited him from buying or possessing firearms after this conviction.”
The Air Force also announced it would review other convictions to see if they had been properly entered into the NICS.
It’s good that the Air Force took the error. But this is only a preliminary step. As wesmorgan1 noted earlier, the UCMJ doesn’t have a specific article on domestic violence. That article needs to be added, and now—and needs to specify that a conviction will bar you from owning a gun.