The three Bay Area members of the House Armed Services Committee say the military must do a better job of reporting criminal histories of service members after the Air Force's failure to do so left the gunman in last week's Texas mass shooting off a federal background-check database.
Devin Kelley, the former airman who killed 26 people and injured about two dozen more in Sutherland Springs on Nov. 5, was able to buy weapons despite the fact he had been convicted of assaulting his wife and infant stepson. The purchases reportedly include the semiautomatic rifle Kelley used in the massacre.
The Air Force was supposed to report Kelley's conviction to the National Crime Information Center, a database run by the FBI.
The lapse drew strong criticism from Reps. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, and John Garamendi, D-Fairfield, who say Congress needs to demand the military coordinate better with the FBI.
"It seems incomprehensible why we wouldn't have the sharing of basic histories," Khanna said in an interview. "When someone is a clear security risk, I think it's important that law enforcement at least be aware of that."