As you’ve no doubt already heard, another mass shooting rocked the nation yesterday after at least 26 people—including children—were killed during a church service in the small town of Sutherland Springs, Texas.
While the country mourns, investigators look into motives, and many call, once again, for stricter gun control regulations, one common thread seems to have emerged that links the suspected gunman—identified as Devin Patrick Kelley—to many of the men who have committed this sort of atrocious crime before him. And that’s a history of domestic violence.
It has been widely reported that Kelley had served in the Air Force but was court martialed in 2012 for assaulting his wife and child. Per the NY Times, he was sentenced to 12 months’ confinement and received a “bad conduct” discharge in 2014. Though federal law prohibits those convicted of domestic violence from having firearms, per ABC News it is unclear if there were exceptions in this case that would have allowed Kelley to purchase the military-style rifle reportedly used in Sunday’s shooting.
According to an Everytown for Gun Safety study that used FBI data and media reports to analyze mass shootings from 2009-2016, 54% were related to domestic or family violence. And while a direct motive still seems unclear in the case of the devastating shooting in Las Vegas, the shooter, Stephen Paddock, was reported to have been abusive to his girlfriend. The ex-wife of Pulse nightclub shooter, Omar Mateen, has also said that he beat her repeatedly. And let’s not forget the San Bernadino school shooting where the shooter’s wife was killed, after previously accusing him of abuse and filing for divorce. The list goes on and on.
Details continue to unfold in this latest tragedy and as we address all the issues that surround gun violence, we must pay attention the red flag of domestic violence and try to figure out how to better protect women, children, and our communities as a whole.