I don’t understand this. I am told a gun purchaser will NOT pass muster if they are ex military and have anything other than an honorable discharge. This guy had a bad conduct discharge and yet passed the back round check?
Something smells here.
You are right, but the Air Force failed to send any info to the FBI, including the dishonorable discharge. So the guy passed the background check because the dishonorable discharge didn’t show up.
Not quite - a BCD doesn’t disqualify you from firearms ownership unless the BCD grounds are on a specific list. In this case, the shooter attacked his wife and fractured his child’s skull. Domestic violence is on the list of BCD offenses that get you disqualified from arms and armor ownership under multiple laws. The Air Force gave him a prison sentence and afterwards a BCD - then ‘forgot’ to file the paperwork that should have put him in the federal databases as a prohibited person.
A similar thing happened with the Virgina Tech shooter.
No, the 4473 only asks if you received a dishonorable discharge.
A bad conduct discharge is just one step above a dishonorable discharge. They are divided into two categories, administrative and punitive.
https://lawforveterans.org/benefits/497-military-discharge
If the service branch doesn’t submit the conviction at court-martial to the FBI, then the FBI wont’ know about. They’re not clairvoyant. They rely on states and the military to input convictions into their NICS system.
From what I understand, for a military member to be placed into the database that would deny him the right to purchase firearms, the entry has to be made by a law enforcement officer. In the case of the USAF, that would be an officer or NCO who is part of Security Forces, or the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI).
But once the offender has been arrested, prosecuted and punished, there was no protocol for security forces or the local AFOSI detachment to enter his name into the database. By the time the church shooter was discharged, I’m guessing he was nothing more than a file for both organizations, and unless he did something else to attract their attention heading out of the gate, they would have no reason to question him, or arrest him again.
On the other hand, there were several commanders and multiple admin types who had to deal with this guy throughout the process. Wouldn’t have been difficult to add a checklist item for the personnel folks to call security forces and/or AFOSI as the offender is being discharged and request that his name be added to the database.
If I’m not mistaken, the database and entry procedures were dreamed up by the feds, and there’s plenty of blame to go around. Meanwhile, everyone forgets that the gunman might have killed many more victims but for the actions of a well-trained (and armed)_civilian. The notion the gunman couldn’t have obtained a weapon if he was in the database is ludicrous; plenty of people killed in Chicago over the weekend by criminals who aren’t supposed to have guns, but get them with ease.
You were “told” wrong. Only a dishonorable discharge or renouncing your American citizenship can fail someone in a 4473 along with any active pending felony charges or past convictions, with domestic violence convictions or a protective order also failing one on the 4473. A BCD does not in itself qualify as a dishonorable discharge nor would a discharge under other than honorable circumstances nor would a ELS either.