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FBI chief says Roof shouldn't have been able to buy gun

Kevin Johnson
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — In an extraordinary acknowledgement of cascading bureaucratic failures, FBI Director James Comey said Friday that Dylann Roof should not have been able to purchase the gun police say he used in the June 17 Charleston, S.C., massacre.

FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 8, 2015.

Comey said an arrest record detailing Roof's March 1 drug arrest by the Columbia, S.C., Police Department was not included in materials reviewed by the FBI's National Instant Check System, which performs criminal background investigations on gun purchasers in 30 states. The contents of the record, the FBI director said, would have prohibited the April purchase of the .45-caliber handgun allegedly used in the church attack, which left nine dead.

"I am here today to talk to you about a mistake, in a matter of heartbreaking importance to all of us,'' Comey said in a briefing at FBI headquarters. "Dylann Roof, the alleged killer of so many innocent people ... should not have been allowed to purchase the gun he allegedly used that evening.''

During the mandatory background check prior to the attempted April 11 gun purchase, Roof's March arrest on felony drug charges was mistakenly attributed to the Lexington County, S.C., Sheriff's Department, not Columbia police. The Lexington County Sheriff's Department operates the jail where Roof had been detained.

The Columbia police report included information that Roof admitted to drug possession, which would have triggered an immediate denial by the FBI NICS review process, according to bureau guidelines. But that information was never seen by the reviewer because the FBI's database did not include Columbia police contacts in its list of agency contacts for Lexington County purchase reviews.

Because the FBI reviewer, described as veteran analyst who works on up to 20 purchases per day, was immediately unable to resolve the matter, the purchase was delayed for the maximum three business days before the gun was allowed to be transferred April 16 to Roof by a West Columbia, S.C., gun store.

"We are all sick about what happened," Comey said, adding that he has ordered a review of the gun background check process, which last year conducted nearly 21 million such background checks.

The records breakdown, Comey suggested, was the primary error in a series of failures that allowed Roof to acquire the weapon used in the attack.

During the three-day waiting period, Comey said the FBI reviewer apparently did everything else required of her and more to vet the purchase. While she never viewed the Columbia police documents, the FBI director said the reviewer contacted the Lexington County courts office, which showed only that Roof was a defendant in a drug case that remained pending, not enough to deny a pending sale.

Dylann Roof appears at Centralized Bond Hearing Court via video up-link on June 19, 2015, in North Charleston, S.C.

The reviewer attempted to reach the Lexington County prosecutor's office on the matter, but received no response, Comey said.

The Lexington County Sheriff's Department informed her that it was not the investigating agency, though officials recommended checking with the Columbia police.

But Comey said reviewer contact sheets listing police agencies by county did not include Columbia, only the city of West Columbia.

When she called West Columbia, the reviewer also was informed that the department had no record of the case, according to the FBI.

The purchase continued to classified as "delayed'' with a decision pending. But firearms dealers are permitted to transfer weapons to buyers after the three-day period, if there is no denial.

"By Thursday, April 16,'' Comey said, "the case was still listed as delayed-pending, so the gun dealer exercised its lawful discretion and transferred the gun to Dylann Roof.''

Two months later, the weapon was allegedly used in the Charleston shooting.

Donnie Myers, Lexington County's chief prosecutor, said Friday that he "didn't know anything about'' a call from the FBI.

"It may have happened, but I just don't know,'' he said, adding that it is not common for the office to receive such calls on gun checks.

The West Columbia gun store where Roof purchased the weapon declined to comment on the now-disputed transaction.

But Comey's disclosure prompted calls for an outside review of the gun check system, in addition to the internal bureau inquiry that the director announced Friday.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., asked leaders of Congress' investigative arm, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to conduct a separate probe of the FBI system.

"Our background check system is flawed and riddled with loopholes,'' Maloney said. "People are dying as a result and Congress cannot stand still. Many disagree with efforts to strengthen gun safety laws, but all of us should agree that we need to enforce the laws on the books.''

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the incident underscores the need for changes to the current background check system.

"The only thing more tragic than what happened in Charleston is the fact that it could have been prevented,'' Schumer said. "Our current system is broken, and it is costing American lives.''

John Feinblatt, president of the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, said allowances for the sale of weapons even when background checks are not completed represent a "deadly flaw'' in the system.

"If you don't pass a background check, you should not pass go and you should not be able to collect a gun,'' Feinblatt said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called the Roof error "disastrous.'' But he warned against using the incident to generate support for additional gun laws.

"It's disastrous that this bureaucratic mistake prevented existing laws from working and blocking an illegal gun sale,'' Grassley said. "The facts undercut attempts to use the tragedy to enact unnecessary gun laws. The American people, and especially the victims' families, deserve better."

Gun Owners of America spokesman Erich Pratt characterized the check system as an "utter failure'' and suggested that gun owners were more effective at confronting and stopping attacks.

"Arguing that we can make background checks better to stop criminals from getting guns is the very definition of insanity," Pratt said.

The bureau's check system has seen its workload steadily increase in recent years, recording 11 consecutive annual spikes, until last year when checks declined only slightly, from 21 million to 20.9 million.

Comey, who wore a pained expression throughout Friday's afternoon briefing, said FBI officials in Charleston had been meeting with victims' families to explain the matter.

"All of us in the FBI, and across the entire nation, grieve for their unspeakable loss and want to do everything we can to help them find peace, strength and healing,'' he said.

Malcolm Graham, whose sister, Cynthia Hurd, was one of the nine killed in the attack, said Friday that he had learned of the FBI's disclosure but declined immediate comment.

"I'm just going to spend a quiet weekend,'' Graham said.

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