More pain in Sutherland Springs

Not long after the Sutherland Springs massacre, a group of Air Force service members gathered in the basement of a building at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph and scrambled to add thousands of people to the federal database used to vet prospective gun buyers.

For weeks they labored on a classified system to catch up on the vital work of entering the service’s violent felons into the National Instant Criminal Background Check system, known as NICS. They were 30 years behind and too late to keep former Airman Devin Patrick Kelley from buying guns.

Their toil came after Kelley used an assault-style rifle he legally obtained at a San Antonio Academy Sports store to kill 26 and wound 22 at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Nov. 5, 2017.

The Air Force admitted the failure, and a federal judge found the service 60 percent liable in the massacre, awarding $230 million to be divided among 84 survivors and family members of those killed. However, in a Monday filing, the Justice Department appealed the ruling, saying the court misapplied the law.

The appeal is another hit to the Sutherland Springs families who have suffered so much, and it brings into question President Joe Biden’s commitment to battling gun violence in America.

Justice Department lawyers are not disputing the Air Force’s mistakes, but they argue these mistakes are “not a legally proper basis for imposing liability on the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), let alone for finding the United States more culpable for the deadly massacre than the shooter himself. The district court’s contrary judgments rest on multiple legal errors.”

The Air Force failed to enter Kelley’s fingerprints and information into the system at least four, and possibly six, times after he was convicted of domestic abuse.

The service court-martialed and convicted Kelley of domestic violence during his time in service at Holloman AFB, N.M. He fractured his young stepson’s skull, beat his wife, made death threats to his chain of command, talked of committing a mass killing, escaped from a mental health facility and spent a year in a military prison before the service put him out with a bad conduct discharge.

In 2013, the Comal County Sheriff ’s

Office named Kelley as a suspect in a “rape by force” case, but he wasn’t charged. In 2014, while living in Colorado, he was charged with animal cruelty for beating his dog, for which he agreed to deferred probation.

In his 185-page settlement ruling,

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez wrote that “the trial conclusively established that no other individual — not even Kelley’s own parents or partners — knew as much as the United States about the violence that Devin Kelley had threatened to commit and was capable of committing.”

He continued, “Moreover, the evidence shows that — had the government done its job and properly reported Kelley’s information into the background check system — it is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the church shooting. For these reasons, the government bears significant responsibility for the plaintiffs’ harm.”

Late last year, the Justice Department settled lawsuits that paid $88 million to the families of those killed at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., as well as $127.5 million to families in the Parkland, Fla., shooting due to the FBI failing to act on tips.

Whether the Sutherland Springs appeal is settled in or out of court, it will undoubtedly delay and deny help for dozens of suffering people for months or years. That’s a harsh message to people who have already waited so long for some gesture of healing and accountability.

While the Air Force’s mistake might be fixed, there are countless other loopholes that enable dangerous people to get firearms. Many politicians are unwilling to do anything about it. This appeal is yet another sign of lackadaisical federal and state approaches to gun safety.

In Uvalde, less than 130 miles from Sutherland Springs, dozens of others who have experienced the nightmare of a mass shooting are watching how this appeal unfolds. The appeal sends a terrible message.

By appealing settlement, Justice Department denies help to the suffering

Sam Owens/Staff photographer The appeal of a $230 million judgment adds to the suffering of Sutherland Springs families and undercuts the Biden administration’s message about gun violence. Last year, this memorial honored the 26 victims of the 2017 massacre.