The cities of New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco are suing the U.S. Department of Defense over its legal failure to report service member crimes to the FBI and national gun background check database, multiple outlets reported Tuesday.
For decades, the Pentagon has defied federal laws intended to keep firearms away from criminals like Devin Patrick Kelley, The New York Times notes. The 26-year-old was convicted of domestic assault before he purchased a rifle and killed dozens of people in Texas in November. Felonies and domestic violence convictions legally prohibit gun ownership.
The democrat-led cities’ lawsuit now seeks to prevent more “senseless carnage” by requiring the Defense Department to fix other “deadly gaps” in the background check database and comply with existing reporting laws under federal court supervision, according to Reuters. It was filed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said his city “relies on this reporting when making the crucial decision whether a license-to-carry applicant should be permitted to carry a firearm.”
“We’re joining in this suit because reporting these records is absolutely critical to those decisions,” he said in a statement. “The background check system only works if it contains the proper records.”
Kind of a shame that you have to sue your own government in order to force them to provide information to keep US citizens safe.
But of course we are talking access to guns here, and the only thing more American than that is mom's homemade apple pie and using the Stars and Stripes as seat covers for your pickup truck.
Source http://ift.tt/2lsMmWK
