CNN exclusive: After Texas massacre, military rushed to add more than 4,000 to gun ban list

Source: CNN




By Jose Pagliery, CNN Investigates

Updated 1252 GMT (2052 HKT) February 12, 2018

(CNN)Since an ex-US airman shot more than two dozen people in a Texas church in November, the US military has added more than 4,000 names to the nation's list of dishonorably discharged military personnel banned from owning firearms -- a sign of what has been a massive hole in the nation's gun buying background check system.

The gunman in the Sutherland Springs massacre had been kicked out of the military for assaulting his wife. By federal law, that should have prevented the shooter from purchasing his semiautomatic rifle, but the US Air Force later admitted it had not submitted his records to the FBI's background check system.

In the months since, the US Department of Defense has scrambled to ensure all of its branches have properly updated the FBI's system to track personnel kicked out of the military who are barred from owning firearms.

That push, a CNN review has found, has uncovered a backlog so significant that the FBI's tally of dishonorably discharged former service members has ballooned by 4,284 names in just three months, a 38% leap.

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/12/us/gun-background-check-backlog-military-dishonorable-discharge-invs/index.html