US government largely responsible for n violenceTexas church massacre: Judge

A US judge has ruled that the government is largely responsible for a deadly mass shooting at a Texas church, four years ago, saying that the tragic incident could have been prevented.

Twenty-six people were killed, after a former US Air Force member, Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire on worshipers at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in the shooting incident in November 5, 2017.

Kelley, 26, also died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, officials said.

US District Judge Xavier Rodriguez said in a ruling on Wednesday, that the Air Force was 60% responsible for the massacre.

“Had the Government done its job and properly reported Kelley’s information into the background check system — it is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the Church shooting,” Rodriguez said.

He said that the failure to submit Kelley’s domestic violence charges in a federal database allowed him to purchase firearms that he should have been barred from owning. 

“For these reasons, the Government bears significant responsibility for the Plaintiffs’ harm,” he added

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Kelly, who served at an Air Force base in New Mexico for nearly five years, was court-martialed for assaulting his wife and stepson, in 2012.

He was discharged for bad conduct in 2014.

In December 2018, a government report said the Air Force missed six chances to alert law enforcement about Kelly’s violence history.

Kelly, however, was allowed to purchase four different firearms from licensed firearm dealers after he was discharged.

Among them was an AR-556 rifle that he used in the church shooting, according to the court ruling. 

After the massacre the Air Force publicly acknowledged that it could have prevented him from purchasing firearms.

The judge said that the Air Force “agents and leadership had an obligation—and multiple opportunities — to ensure that Kelley’s fingerprints and criminal history were submitted to the FBI.”

The shooter would not have passed background checks to purchase the firearms if his convictions were entered into the FBI database, according to the ruling.

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Under America’s gun control law, people convicted of a misdemeanor crime involving domestic violence are prohibited from owning firearms. 

Gun violence claims the lives of nearly 40,000 people each year across the US.

During his presidential campaign, Joe Biden pledged to reinstate an assault weapons ban, create a voluntary gun buyback program and send a bill to Congress to repeal liability protections for gun manufacturers and close background check loopholes on his first day in office. 

After a recent shooting that killed three people in Colorado in June, the president called on Congress to implement measures to end what he called “epidemic of gun violence.”

In recent years, the US Democrats have called for universal background checks, which are broadly popular among Americans, as well as a ban on military-style “assault” weapons, but conservatives remain steadfastly against strict, new gun control.

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