Air Force ordered to pay more than $230M in Texas church shooting

[Zorro]

SAN ANTONIO — The Air Force must pay more than $230 million in damages to survivors and victims’ families of a 2017 Texas church massacre for failing to flag a conviction that might have kept the gunman from legally buying the weapon used in the shooting, a federal judge ruled Monday.

More than two dozen people were killed when Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire during a Sunday service at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. Kelley, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after being shot and chased by two men who heard the gunfire at the church, had served in the Air Force before the attack.

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez had ruled in July that the Air Force was “60 percent liable” for the attack because it failed to submit Kelley’s assault conviction during his time in the Air Force to a national database.

Lawyers for survivors and relatives of those killed had asked for $418 million, while the Justice Department proposed $31.8 million.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-air-force/2022/02/07/air-force-ordered-to-pay-more-than-230m-in-texas-church-shooting/

[Turbineguy]

1. Well,

they were only going to waste it on national security anyway.

[AndyS]

2. Reporting things to the NICS database is a big deal.

There isn't a mechanism to make it mandatory for state and local law enforcement to report prohibiting (of gun purchases) incidents. A conviction of misdemeanor domestic violence is a prohibiting factor but many states and localities don't report it. That one item could save thousands of women's lives.