Devin Patrick Kelley, the man authorities say killed 26 and injured 20 in the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history, should have been prohibited from buying a gun under US law.
A former airman with the US Air Force, Kelley, received a "bad conduct" discharge from the military after charges of assault against his spouse and child led him to be court-martialed. Military members dishonorably discharged cannot legally purchase a gun, but Kelley's bad-conduct discharge falls just short of that mark.
Kelley apparently was not convicted of domestic violence in the incidents that led him to be disciplined; such a conviction could have also legally disqualified him from gun ownership.
But even if the assault charges didn't technically go down as domestic violence, assault alone can be treated as a felony, which should preclude gun ownership. And even if the charges didn't go down as felonies, the twin charges carried a maximum sentence of over a year in prison, and therefore should preclude gun ownership.
The federal government's firearm transaction record, which buyers must legally fill out, asks about felony convictions. Kelley bought a Ruger AR-556 rifle, used in the attack on the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in April of last year from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio, a law-enforcement official told CNN.
The purchase of the gun took place two years after Kelley had been court-martialed, imprisoned, and discharged from the military.