USA Today - 09.08.2019

NEWS USA TODAY z FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2019 z 3A

WASHINGTON – Deadly massacres
in recent years have exposed the diffi-
culty in identifying and acting on
warnings signs from troubled people –
even inside institutions such as the
military, which screens its personnel
continuously.
After massacres in El Paso, Texas,
and Dayton, Ohio, President Donald
Trump said the government needs the
power to identify potential shooters
and take away their firearms if they
have threatened harm to themselves
or others.
But even when warning signs are
apparent, they can be overlooked or
unheeded.
Information reporting systems
have gaps that can al-
low would-be shooters
to obtain weapons.
The District of Co-
lumbia and 17 states
have “red flag” laws.
Tuesday, Ohio Gov.
Mike DeWine called for
such a law and beefed
up background checks. Texas does not
have a red flag law.
The focus on such preventative
measures intensified after mass
shootings in El Paso and Dayton in
which at least 31 people were killed.
Those laws can work, said David
Chipman, a former agent with the Bu-
reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives, provided guns are sold only
through federally licensed dealers.
“These laws empower police and
others to buy more time so that people
can diagnose the emergency,” said
Chipman, a senior policy adviser for the
gun safety advocacy group named for
former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was
critically wounded in a shooting in Tuc-
son, Arizona, in 2011. “The whole es-
sence of this is in its application in
emergency situations. I was encour-
aged to hear the president express sup-
port for this, but I am skeptical that
what he said may not marry up with the
intent of these laws.”
The laws require the flow of accu-
rate, actionable information to authori-
ties, and they require people to act on
warning signs.
Even in the military, which vets its
recruits for criminal activity and con-
ducts background checks before issu-
ing security clearances, warning signs
that could have prevented two trage-
dies went unheeded.
Less than two years ago, a troubled
former airman named Devin Kelley
slaughtered 26 churchgoers in Texas
with guns he had purchased legally de-
spite abundant warning signs about his
instability.
Recruiters missed the first warning
sign because Kelley simply lied on an
entrance form when asked if he’d “ever
experimented with, used, or possessed
any illegal drug or narcotic.”
Kelley had been arrested for mari-
juana possession in 2006; he received
six months’ probation and 60 hours of
community service.
The Pentagon inspector general re-
viewed Kelley’s case and found that
Kelley had raised alarms about himself,
twice admitting himself to base hospi-
tals for mental health treatment.
Hospital staff at one stay “put a
high-risk notification alert on his chart
due to his homicidal and suicidal indi-
cators.” His wife told Air Force criminal
investigators in 2012 he had beaten her
and the child and had threatened to kill
police and co-workers.
Kelley’s wife quoted him to investi-
gators: “If the cops show up at my door,
I will shoot them. My work is so lucky I
do not have a shotgun because I would
go in there and shoot everyone.” The Air
Force failed at least four times to notify
the FBI of Kelley’s troubles, including
his court-martial for assaulting his wife
and beating his infant stepson.
“Because his fingerprints were not
submitted to the FBI CJIS (Criminal
Justice Information Services Division),
Kelley was able to purchase firearms,
which he used to kill 26 people at the
First Baptist Church of Sutherland
Spring on Nov. 5, 2017,” the inspector
general concluded.

Past cases

show how

red flags

missed

Potential for violence

overlooked, unheeded

Tom Vanden Brook
and Kevin Johnson
USA TODAY

Kelley

After each mass shooting in Amer-

ica, the nation relives a near-scripted

clash: calls for stricter gun laws, push-

back from pro-gun activists led by the

National Rifle Association, and an ulti-

mate impasse.

But this time – following seven days

that left at least 35 people dead in

shootings in Gilroy, California; El Paso,

Texas; and Dayton, Ohio – one side of

that power struggle appears to have

shifted.

The NRA is busy managing another

crisis: Its own.

For months it has weathered a se-

ries of public spectacles stemming

from both infighting and outside scru-

tiny. Most recently, in the middle of

last week’s mass shootings, three

members of the NRA board resigned,

citing concerns over irresponsible

spending by the group’s leaders.

The NRA’s opponents see the chaos

as a vulnerability, something not lost

on supporters who have grown frus-

trated with the national organization.

“Those of us who are plugged into

this, who are living it, are wondering

why this is happening and why it

seemingly isn’t being fixed,” said Mark

Walters, an NRA member and host of

the syndicated Armed American Ra-

dio. “(Especially) at a time it is so im-

portant that we have a strong National

Rifle Association coming into 2020, in

particular on the heels of this mess

with California, El Paso, and Dayton.”

A spokesman for the NRA did not

respond to a request to interview CEO

Wayne LaPierre, instead providing a

statement that touted “a string of re-

cent victories” under the NRA’s new

political team.

“With many in the media writing

the obituary of the NRA, we are scoring

big wins in the legislative, legal, and

public policy arenas,” Andrew Arula-

nandam wrote.

The NRA’s opponents see them as

putting on a good face.

“I’ve never seen them weaker,” said

John Feinblatt, president of Every-

town for Gun Safety, a national advo-

cacy group. “I think that they have

been very much sidelined.”

As proof, he pointed to

the fact that gun control

groups outspent gun

rights groups in the 2018

midterm elections. The

gun control lobby spent

about $12.1 million to the

gun rights’ $10 million

($8.2 million of that com-

ing from the NRA), ac-

cording to numbers com-

piled by Open Secrets, a

nonpartisan group that

tracks lobbying and elec-

tion spending.

And that, he said, was

all “before the five-alarm fire.”

The turmoil in the NRA has been un-

folding for months. The group began the

year by downplaying its relationship

with Maria Butina, a Russian agent later

convictedand sentenced to 18 months

in prison for trying to infiltrate political

organizations on behalf of the Kremlin.

Butina had become cozy with the group,

including helping to host a delegation of

NRA insiders in Moscow in 2015.

McClatchy has reported that the Justice

Department is investigating whether

one of her associates, former Russian

official and NRA member Alexander

Torshin, illegally moved Russian money

through the group to back President

Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

In April, the organization’s president,

Oliver North, was forced out after raising

concerns about the group’s finances and

amid allegations he had attempted to en-

gineer the removal of LaPierre. LaPierre,

who accused North of extortion, is now

facing increased pressure to resign, in-

cluding from deep-pocketed donorscon-

cerned about the ongoing strife, The New

York Times has reported.

The New York Attorney General’s Of-

fice also is investigating the NRA’s tax-

exempt status. And the District of Co-

lumbia attorney general has another

probe into the organization and its char-

itable foundation.

Even with public pressure from the

recent mass shootings, many watching

the debate are skeptical the NRA’s trou-

bles will dramatically move the needle

on gun control legislation. Congress has

not passed broad changes for decades.

Lawmakers considering new gun

measures know that how they vote will

influence whether the NRA endorses

them – one of the most powerful tools at

the organization’s disposal, said Adam

Winkler, a professor at the UCLA School

of Law. “The threat is always there and I

think that is enough to sway a lot of law-

makers,” he said.

Harry L. Wilson, a political scientist

at Roanoke University who focuses on

gun control, said he doubts the NRA’s

troubles will have much impact. “The

sides are pretty firmly dug in, I think,

legislatively,” he said.

He said the impact could be more

dramatic down the line if the problems

persist and discourage donations.

Activists in battleground states are

watching the NRA’s strife closely.

Shira Goodman, executive director of

the nonprofit CeaseFire PA, said she

hopes the “the lawsuits, the turmoil, the

internal dissension, the attempted

coups” will damage the NRA’s brand.

She and others stressed, though, that

the NRA still has its biggest asset: sin-

gle-issue, pro-gun voters it can mobilize

in an election. “Those people will take

the NRA voting guide to the polls,”

Goodman said. “And that is not going to

disappear overnight.”

Contributing: Mark Nichols, Kevin

Crowe and Richard Wolf

Advocates of gun control hold a vigil outside NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Va., on Monday. WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES

Could turmoil at NRA

be a game changer?

Tricia L. Nadolny

USA TODAY

Gun control groups outspent gun rights

groups in the 2018 midterm elections. The

gun control lobby spent about $12.1 million

to the gun rights’ $10 million ($8.2 million

of that coming from the NRA).

Open Secrets, a nonpartisan group that tracks lobbying and election spending

North

LaPierre

An attorney for the family of the

man charged in the El Paso shootings

said the man’s mother contacted po-

lice weeks before the rampage out of

concern that her son had a rifle.

Twenty-two people were killed af-

ter a white gunman targeting a His-

panic area opened fire at a Walmart in

the border city Saturday.

Dallas attorney Chris Ayres told The

Associated Press the call was made to

police in the suspected shooter’s town

of Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb.

Ayres and fellow attorney R. Jack

Ayres told CNNthat the suspect’s moth-

er contacted the Allen Police Depart-

ment to ask about an “AK”-type firearm

he owned. The attorneys said the moth-

er was only seeking information and

wasn’t motivated by a concern that her

son was a threat to anybody. They said

the mother didn’t identify herself or her

son in the call. The lawyers told CNN the

mother was concerned about her son’s

age, maturity level and lack of experi-

ence but was told by a public safety offi-

cer that her son, who is 21, was legally

allowed to possess the weapon.

A family statement sent by Chris

Ayres to USA TODAY said the suspect

acted outside the family’s teachings and

values. “He was raised in a family that

taught love, kindness, respect, and tol-

erance – rejecting all forms of racism,

prejudice, hatred, and violence,” the

statement says. “There will never be a

moment for the rest of our lives when

we will forget each and every victim of

this senseless tragedy.”

Sgt. Jon Felty, Allen police spokes-

man, said he couldn’t confirm the call. “I

have nothing in the database to support

this claim,” he told USA TODAY.

The suspect, Patrick Crusius, faces

charges of capital murder in state court

and may face federal hate crime charges

that could carry a death sentence.

Contributing: The Associated Press

El Paso suspect’s mom called police

Adrianna Rodriguez

USA TODAY