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Texas killer was able to buy guns because of Air Force lapse

Brochacholomigo

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https://apnews.com/ee3c770a850a4340...s-able-to-buy-guns-because-of-Air-Force-lapse

The gunman who slaughtered 26 people at a Texas church was able to buy weapons because the Air Force failed to report his domestic violence conviction to the federal database that is used to conduct background checks on would-be gun purchasers, authorities said Monday.

In summary: this guy got past background checks because some incompetent and/or apathetic bureaucrat somewhere in the Air Force didn't bother to forward the FBI a summary of this guy's domestic abuse felony, and now we have to comb through the records of military courts to see just how many violent felons can still buy guns. Any ideas on what could have caused breakdown in discipline like this in our armed forces? Any ideas on what could have prevented it, or could prevent future incidents?
 
https://apnews.com/ee3c770a850a4340...s-able-to-buy-guns-because-of-Air-Force-lapse



In summary: this guy got past background checks because some incompetent and/or apathetic bureaucrat somewhere in the Air Force didn't bother to forward the FBI a summary of this guy's domestic abuse felony, and now we have to comb through the records of military courts to see just how many violent felons can still buy guns. Any ideas on what could have caused breakdown in discipline like this in our armed forces? Any ideas on what could have prevented it, or could prevent future incidents?

The domestic abuse felony included fracturing the skull of his stepson. According to what I have read the shooter spent over a year in the brig for his actions. How in the heck could that have not been reported correctly? Unless of course just like any profession, job etc. there are always those who are not worth their weight in salt. They show up to work, their lights are on but they are not home.
 
https://apnews.com/ee3c770a850a4340...s-able-to-buy-guns-because-of-Air-Force-lapse



In summary: this guy got past background checks because some incompetent and/or apathetic bureaucrat somewhere in the Air Force didn't bother to forward the FBI a summary of this guy's domestic abuse felony, and now we have to comb through the records of military courts to see just how many violent felons can still buy guns. Any ideas on what could have caused breakdown in discipline like this in our armed forces? Any ideas on what could have prevented it, or could prevent future incidents?

Hundreds of military personnel commit suicide every year, many who have not even been deployed. So, without question every one of them is mentally disturbed in some fashion. That leaves us to only guess at how many serving are borderline. That are known to have issues. But the military is still loathe, depending on the command, to take action.
 
Hundreds of military personnel commit suicide every year, many who have not even been deployed. So, without question every one of them is mentally disturbed in some fashion. That leaves us to only guess at how many serving are borderline. That are known to have issues. But the military is still loathe, depending on the command, to take action.

Everyone in the military and, I assume, veterans are mentally disturbed? Are you sure about that?
 
https://apnews.com/ee3c770a850a4340...s-able-to-buy-guns-because-of-Air-Force-lapse

In summary: this guy got past background checks because some incompetent and/or apathetic bureaucrat somewhere in the Air Force didn't bother to forward the FBI a summary of this guy's domestic abuse felony, and now we have to comb through the records of military courts to see just how many violent felons can still buy guns. Any ideas on what could have caused breakdown in discipline like this in our armed forces? Any ideas on what could have prevented it, or could prevent future incidents?

Mistakes are going to happen. It’s part of the human condition.
 
Hundreds of military personnel commit suicide every year, many who have not even been deployed. So, without question every one of them is mentally disturbed in some fashion. That leaves us to only guess at how many serving are borderline. That are known to have issues. But the military is still loathe, depending on the command, to take action.

Please substantiate that claim.

Link?
 
Everyone in the military and, I assume, veterans are mentally disturbed? Are you sure about that?

That is not even close to what I said. I don't think it s a stretch to say that everyone who commits suicide is suffering from sort of mental illness. Service member or civilian.
 
That is not even close to what I said. I don't think it s a stretch to say that everyone who commits suicide is suffering from sort of mental illness. Service member or civilian.

Then you may wish to reword what you wrote, because I also took what you said as being "All military" are mentally disturbed in some way.
 
https://apnews.com/ee3c770a850a4340...s-able-to-buy-guns-because-of-Air-Force-lapse



In summary: this guy got past background checks because some incompetent and/or apathetic bureaucrat somewhere in the Air Force didn't bother to forward the FBI a summary of this guy's domestic abuse felony, and now we have to comb through the records of military courts to see just how many violent felons can still buy guns. Any ideas on what could have caused breakdown in discipline like this in our armed forces? Any ideas on what could have prevented it, or could prevent future incidents?

You answered your own question, IMO.
 
You answered your own question, IMO.
This guy should have never been allowed the sale of a fire arm. The Air Force error allowed the shooter to buy firearms. The Air Force have admitted their error but dang what a costly error.
 
Hundreds of military personnel commit suicide every year, many who have not even been deployed. So, without question every one of them is mentally disturbed in some fashion. That leaves us to only guess at how many serving are borderline. That are known to have issues. But the military is still loathe, depending on the command, to take action.


Thank you for your broad brush slur.
 
The domestic abuse felony included fracturing the skull of his stepson. According to what I have read the shooter spent over a year in the brig for his actions. How in the heck could that have not been reported correctly? Unless of course just like any profession, job etc. there are always those who are not worth their weight in salt. They show up to work, their lights are on but they are not home.

It could've been reported as an assault which doesn't by itself eliminate gun rights, and not as a "domestic violence" assault which does.

see under federal law a "dishonorable discharge" prohibits one from gun ownership. a "Dishonorable" can only be awarded as punishment upon conviction of a serious offense at court martial, it is a felony sentence basically. this man recieved a "bad conduct discharge" which does not prohibit gun ownership, however the conviction that he did receive should have made him ineligible because the victim of the crime were people in his household, and included his spouse.

So my theory is, the air force probably didn't mention directly in the paperwork it was a conviction for domestic violence versus regular assault. we know this guy was denied a CHL by Texas authorities, and I think that's because as a law enforcement agency Texas DPS sent in the mope's fingerprints and got the actual case file back and their people went through it and learned the victim made it a DV situation. whereas at NICs the caseworker doing that background check, if he saw anything at all on his computer, maybe only saw a coversheet.
 
https://apnews.com/ee3c770a850a4340...s-able-to-buy-guns-because-of-Air-Force-lapse



In summary: this guy got past background checks because some incompetent and/or apathetic bureaucrat somewhere in the Air Force didn't bother to forward the FBI a summary of this guy's domestic abuse felony, and now we have to comb through the records of military courts to see just how many violent felons can still buy guns. Any ideas on what could have caused breakdown in discipline like this in our armed forces? Any ideas on what could have prevented it, or could prevent future incidents?

Let's see. Someone didn't check a box and no one followed up. Although I'm sure many were aware how crazy this clown was. "Not my job..."
 
The domestic abuse felony included fracturing the skull of his stepson. According to what I have read the shooter spent over a year in the brig for his actions. How in the heck could that have not been reported correctly? Unless of course just like any profession, job etc. there are always those who are not worth their weight in salt. They show up to work, their lights are on but they are not home.

I, for one, am shocked - shocked - to discover that the federal government was incompetent at applying the rules by which we are governed.
 
Thanks to everyone who responded. If anyone with expertise in IT is reading this, could you give me an assessment on how much trouble it would be to set up a bot to automatically scan different agency's databases to look for unlisted criminals, and update the FBI's files appropriately? For example, every month or so, simple program compares FBI & Air Force records on who's been convicted in military tribunals for what, and puts them on a list to be reviewed for adding to the no fly list or the no gun list. Is that a reasonable possibility?
 
I, for one, am shocked - shocked - to discover that the federal government was incompetent at applying the rules by which we are governed.

You answered your own question, IMO.

Let's see. Someone didn't check a box and no one followed up. Although I'm sure many were aware how crazy this clown was. "Not my job..."

Mistakes are going to happen. It’s part of the human condition.

Human error is certainly something we have to live with, and this problem is exasperated in bureacracies - the bigger they are, the more likely an error is, and the more significant an error can be. What I'm interested in is how best to institute a system, preferably automated, to check for discrepancies like this and bring them up for manual review. Please see the above post, and tell me what you think.
 
Human error is certainly something we have to live with, and this problem is exasperated in bureacracies - the bigger they are, the more likely an error is, and the more significant an error can be. What I'm interested in is how best to institute a system, preferably automated, to check for discrepancies like this and bring them up for manual review. Please see the above post, and tell me what you think.

The problem is, who would be in charge of instituting such a system? A bureaucrat. The government is inept, and that is not going to change any time soon.
 
The problem is, who would be in charge of instituting such a system? A bureaucrat. The government is inept, and that is not going to change any time soon.

That is certainly true, but replacing a bureaucrat with an automated document scanner would be a step in the right a better direction, would it not?
 
Hundreds of military personnel commit suicide every year, many who have not even been deployed. So, without question every one of them is mentally disturbed in some fashion. That leaves us to only guess at how many serving are borderline. That are known to have issues. But the military is still loathe, depending on the command, to take action.
What an extremely ignorant, false and stupid post.
 
Thanks to everyone who responded. If anyone with expertise in IT is reading this, could you give me an assessment on how much trouble it would be to set up a bot to automatically scan different agency's databases to look for unlisted criminals, and update the FBI's files appropriately? For example, every month or so, simple program compares FBI & Air Force records on who's been convicted in military tribunals for what, and puts them on a list to be reviewed for adding to the no fly list or the no gun list. Is that a reasonable possibility?

It would be a simple database query to set up.
It would require that the information was input into the databases to start with.
 
That is certainly true, but replacing a bureaucrat with an automated document scanner would be a step in the right a better direction, would it not?

At least the scanner gets it pixel perfect or wrong in exactly the same way every time.
 
That is certainly true, but replacing a bureaucrat with an automated document scanner would be a step in the right a better direction, would it not?

Maybe. Like I said, it would be a bureaucrat in charge of installing the automated scanning system. What are the chances it will work as intended? There are two chances.
 
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