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The
lawsuit was filed on Friday in federal court in Alexandria,
Virginia and came after the U.S. Air Force revealed it failed to
report the criminal record of the man who in November killed 26
people and wounded 20 others in a shooting at a Texas church.
The complaint, announced on Tuesday, said it sought an
injunction to prevent future "senseless carnage" by requiring
the Defense Department to locate all records in its possession
that should be reported in order to fix "deadly gaps" in the
background check database.
"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," New
York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.
The three cities are led by Democrats, some of whom have
advocated stricter gun controls.
The Defense Department said that it did not comment on pending
litigation.
Former Airman Devin Kelley - who opened fire in the First
Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Nov. 5 - was
convicted five years ago by a general court-martial on two
charges of domestic assault against his wife and stepson.
The Air Force said that information was not entered into the
National Criminal Information Center database, which the Federal
Bureau of Investigation oversees and uses to run required
background check requests from gun dealers before a sale.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has since ordered the Justice
Department to undertake a review of the system to help plug
potential reporting gaps.
The Department of Defense Inspector General earlier this month
released a report that found that all military services
"consistently" failed to submit fingerprint data for 24 percent
of the convicted offenders reviewed.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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