FBI Director: Dylann Roof Shouldn't Have Been Able To Buy Gun

Police lead suspected shooter Dylann Roof into the courthouse in Shelby, North Carolina, June 18, 2015.

Jason Miczek / Reuters

Dylann Roof, the alleged mass shooter who killed nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, should not have been able to buy the firearm used in the attack, FBI Director James Comey said on Friday.

In comments during a meeting at FBI headquarters, and first reported by The Washington Post, Comey said failures in the federal background check system may have allowed Roof to acquire the weapon used in the mass shooting last month.

According to the FBI, Roof’s name should have been entered into the bureau’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System after an arrest in April in which he admitted possessing illegal drugs.

Comey said the FBI background check examiner missed Roof’s arrest when she evaluated his request to purchase a gun because the wrong police agency was listed, the Associated Press reported.

“We are all sick this happened,” Comey said. “We wish we could turn back time.”

FBI Director James Comey

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

The National Criminal Instant Background Check System (NICS), was mandated by the Brady Act, which took effect in 1998. NICS allows gun sellers to call law enforcement and instantly review a purchaser’s criminal record before selling them a firearm.

According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence — a nonprofit that advocates for programs to reduce gun violence — since the Brady Act has prevented the sale of 2.4 million firearms to convicted felons, mentally ill people, and domestic abusers since it took effect.

“This is a tragic example where one fell through the cracks,” Dan Gross, president of the center, told BuzzFeed News.

Gross, whose nonprofit has been at the forefront of lobbying efforts to expand the federal background check system, expressed concerns that the pro-gun lobby would use the Roof failure to argue that the NICS system is not working and therefore should not be expanded to include background checks for online purchases and gun shows.

He acknowledged, however, that the NICS system does need to be improved.

“There are a number of states that have been less than stellar at getting those names into that system,” Gross said.

Roof has been charged with nine counts of murder for the killings at Emmanuel AME Church and could face the death penalty if convicted. The Department of Justice is also determining whether to charge him with a federal hate crime.

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