It's probably a "negative system." One is only in it if the record's not clean. Not there at all? Then Good to Go.
@corbe @Bigun @Cyber Liberty I went looking for whether the Military has to report domestic abusers or others tried in military courts for crimes to the NICS database. Theoretically, all jurisdictions are supposed to, but efficeiency and quality of those records may vary, and mental health information reported to the NICS database is only required by 30 states, and may be hampered by HIPAA constraints if no adjudication is involved.
I did find this article, which is current:
The Military Is Reporting Almost No Domestic Abusers to the Main Gun Background Check DatabaseSo, even though Kelley was discharged over his domestic violence conviction:
When Kelley was kicked out of the Air Force in 2014, it was through a bad conduct discharge, which on its own does not initiate a gun ban.
“The federal gun laws specifically mention a dishonorable discharge. Not bad conduct,” Baxley said.
(from link above)
He slipped through the cracks because it was not specifically a DD, and because the Military was not specifically reporting the domestic abuse cases.
My opinion of the Lautenberg Amendment is not very high. It was an ex post facto law, which makes it unconstitutional, in that it retroactively punished people whose offense predated the passage of the law. I'd wager there were a lot of people who would have pled not guilty and fought questionable convictions rather than cop a plea if they had known what was in store for them.
That said, anyone who will beat their spouse or kid isn't someone with the ideal demeanor for a gun owner, and OTOH, there are some things ginned up to provide the restraining order that evicts a guy from his home, his stuff, and his kids as the opening gambit in a nasty divorce (often with the boyfriend shacked up with her in the house he bought, with the kids, too).
Domestic situations can be complicated and emotionally supercharged, even without the complicating effects of drugs or alcohol. Yet we expect people who are raised with snowflake level crisis resolution skills to handle it. Instead, they either curl up and cry or get violent.
