INDIANAPOLIS – Soon after a man opened fire at a Texas church and killed 26 people, officials began to question how the suspect was able to obtain a gun in the first place given his criminal record.
Several Indiana lawmakers and gun dealers believe 26-year-old Devin Kelly slipped through cracks in the system.
Due to Kelly’s prior domestic violence conviction, he should have been prevented from purchasing the Ruger model AR-556 rifle he used in Sunday's shooting from a sporting goods store in San Antonio in 2016.
“Even if he answered no fraudulently to the disqualifying questions, that information if everything's worked correctly, should still be reflected in the federal database and I'll get a denied result as soon as I run a background check,” said Mark Welter at Indy Arms Company.
Attorney Guy Relford said if a criminal history isn’t reported, it could cause illegal gun sales.
"If there was some conviction that was not reported by the court he was convicted as required by law, if they failed to meet their obligation so that information did not go into the database, he could skip by,” said Relford. “Sometimes there's something inconclusive on someone's history and so it can delay."
Organizers and members of groups like Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence found it upsetting to learn incidents, such as the one in Texas, could be the result of system failure or human negligence.
Executive Director Laura Berry said the organization sees similar cases often.
"Because of something within the system, we don't go that step further to make certain that they are Brady disqualified because of a conviction of domestic violence, because of a protective order that we don't ask for firearms to be removed, they can legally obtain a firearm."
Congressman Andre Carson said lawmakers need to strengthen gun laws to help end mass shootings.
"We have to improve our background check system to stop violent criminals from obtaining firearms. I think what that looks like is that we require every gun buyer to pass a background check,” said Carson.
In August, a committee of Indiana legislators met to decide if they should get rid of the law that requires a license for gun owners.
Indiana’s current law says gun holders must pass a criminal background check and be at least 18 years old to obtain a license.
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