Gun Trade World - April 2023

DEPARTMENT
OF JUSTICE PITS
PRESIDENT
BIDEN AGAINST
GUN CONTROL
LOBBY WITHOUT
ACKNOWLEDGING
FIX NICS ACT
President Joe Biden has worked in tandem with gun control
advocacy organisations seeking to disarm law-abiding American
citizens and demonise American firearm manufacturers.
By Larry Keane
While this connection
between the Biden
administration and gun
confiscation supporters
is well known, the Department of
Justice (DOJ) has threatened to
undermine that relationship by daring
to recognise the indisputable truth
that criminals are responsible for the
crimes they commit. At the same time,
President Biden’s Justice Department is
conveniently ignoring initiatives led by
the firearms and ammunition industry
that are proven to prevent gun crime
and keep communities safer.
In 2021, U.S. District Court Judge
Xavier Rodriguez found the US
government 60 per cent liable for the
2017 Sutherland Springs attack, during
which the perpetrator murdered 26
individuals and wounded 22 more at
the First Baptist Church in Texas. In
the lawsuit that followed, Holcombe
v. USA, Judge Rodriguez stated that
the US government was primarily
responsible for the incident because
the Air Force failed to report to the
National Instant Criminals Background
Check System (NICS) murderer’s
2012 domestic violence court-martial
conviction, his dishonourable discharge
and his involuntary commitment to a
mental health facility, awarding a $230
million judgment to the plaintiffs. As
a result, between 2012 and 2017, the
perpetrator was able to make multiple
firearm purchases from firearm
retailers.
Responsibility
No one – not even the government
– disputes that the Air Force failed
to report material information to
NICS that would have disqualified
the murderer from legally purchasing
firearms. In its recent appeal of the
2021 court decision, the DOJ called
the attack an “inexpressible tragedy,”
adding that it “unequivocally does not
seek to excuse” the government’s failure
to report the murderer’s criminal and
mental health history. However, the
Department’s civil division contends:
“Even if the government’s conduct
might have contributed to the sequence
of events… the man who pulled the
trigger that day cannot bear less than
half of the responsibility for causing
the injuries and pain of the victims and
their families.”
For once, the Biden administration
correctly recognises that criminals are
responsible for their crimes, even if
this admission is under the duress of
the looming $230 million settlement
the government owes the victims of
Sutherland in adherence to the 2022
ruling they are now appealing.
To be sure, attributing blame where
blame is due and fixing persistent
bureaucratic problems that failed to
prevent a violent and mentally ill
individual from acquiring a firearm
when he should not have been able to
are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, the
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