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DOJ orders review of background check system that failed in Texas massacre

The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it’s looking to fix the system that mistakenly allowed Devin Kelley to buy the gun he used to kill more than two dozen people in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Kelley was able to buy the gun because the Air Force didn’t report a prior domestic violence conviction to the FBI as it was supposed to, meaning Kelley’s name wasn’t in a database that alerts gun sellers that a prospective gun buyer has a criminal record. That database, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS for short, has come under scrutiny since the shooting, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions now says he plans to overhaul it.

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The background check system has kept guns out of the hands of some 1.3 million people and checks have been run through the system about 230 million times, according to the FBI. But new policies this year saw the system’s database shrunken dramatically, and it’s not clear what effect that will have on its use.

Tens of thousands of people wanted by law enforcement were purged from the system this year after the Federal Bureau of Investigation changed its interpretation of “fugitive from justice” to apply only to alleged criminals who had crossed state lines, according to the Washington Post.

Before the FBI changed its interpretation, there were about 500,000 people who fit the description in the database. Now, the Washington Post reports, there are 788.

The DOJ memo, sent out Wednesday, instructs the Department of Defense to ensure that the military is reporting criminal convictions properly, and asks for help identifying any obstacles to reaching local entities.