Mattis Himself Has Stepped In on Air Force's Failure to Report Texas Shooter, Orders Investigation

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis listens to a question about Russia from the media at the Pentagon, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017, in Washington. Senior American and Russian military leaders met for an unprecedented, face-to-face session somewhere in the Middle East this week to discuss the growing tensions in the competing battles to retake one of the remaining Islamic State strongholds in Syria. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Outrage has been building around the Air Force’s failure to report the violent history of Sutherland, Texas, church shooter Devin Kelley to the FBI, and now Defense Secretary James Mattis is personally ordering the Pentagon to investigate this failure.

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As well he should. The failure resulted in Kelley being able to purchase the firearm that helped him kill 26 innocent people on Sunday.

According to the Washington Times, Mattis ordered a Pentagon watchdog group to “find out what’s going on” with the Air Force’s bureaucratic failure that allowed Kelley to slip through the cracks in the NICS database.

“If the problem is we didn’t put something out, we’ll correct that,” said Mattis.

The Washington Times reported that Mattis said the Pentagon needs to be sure it has “the right direction” and must “define what the problem is.”

It is believed at this time that Kelley should not have been able to purchase a gun, as he was discharged from the military for “bad conduct.” His “bad conduct” was beating his wife and infant stepson, the latter of whom he admitted to purposefully beating in the head, giving the baby a concussion.

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Kelley was court marshaled in 2012 for the incident and wound up serving a year in confinement.

None of this was entered into the federal database by the Air Force, which they are calling a “bureaucratic error.

Hopefully, with Mattis himself lighting fires under the rears of investigators and the “bureaucracy” that helped along the death of 26 people, we’ll get to the bottom of this problem, and make sure the law is upheld.

 

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