Cities sue to enforce Defense Dept. gun rule
NEW YORK — Three large U.S. cities sued the Department of Defense yesterday, arguing that many service members who are disqualified from gun ownership weren’t reported to the national background check system.
New York City, San Francisco and Philadelphia said in federal court papers that the military’s broken system for relaying such information helped spur the massacre of 26 people inside a Texas church last month.
“This failure on behalf of the Department of Defense has led to the loss of innocent lives by putting guns in the hands of criminals and those who wish to cause immeasurable harm,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “New York City is joining Philadelphia and San Francisco to stand up to the Department of Defense and demand they comply with the law and repair their drastically flawed system.”
Local law enforcement officials rely on the FBI’s database to conduct background checks on gun permit applications and to monitor purchases. It must be up-to-date in order to prevent people from wrongly getting guns, the cities’ attorneys wrote.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Alexandria, Va., seeks an injunction and judicial oversight to ensure ongoing compliance with the Defense Department’s obligation to submit records.
A Pentagon spokesman said he couldn’t comment specifically on the lawsuit.
“The department continues to work with the services as they review and refine their policies and procedures to ensure qualifying criminal history information is submitted to the FBI,” said Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman.