SEATTLE (AP) – Ten American Indian tribes are gaining access to national criminal databases after a deadly shooting in Washington state helped reveal flaws in the way federal authorities and tribal governments share information.
Tribes can now conduct thorough background checks and add criminal records to the databases, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday. It comes after a member of the Tulalip Tribe was able to buy a gun later used by his son to kill four classmates and himself at a high school last year.
A domestic violence restraining order issued by a tribal court in 2001 should have stopped the father from buying firearms.
“Gaps in data sharing allowed a prohibited person to purchase a handgun and possess it at his home,” U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes said. “That gun was used in the school shooting with the tragic consequences that we all now know.”
Two tribes from Washington and two from Arizona, plus one each from Oklahoma, North Carolina, Michigan, New York, Oregon and Idaho will take part in the program unveiled at the annual White House Tribal Nations Conference in Washington, D.C.