Texas shooter should not have been allowed to buy guns due to domestic violence background

The gunman who killed more than two dozen churchgoers in rural Texas had been court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force for abusing his wife and stepchild. In fact domestic violence may have been the motivation behind the mass shooting, as Patrick Kelley ‘s in-laws were members of the church where he opened fire.

Thea Walsh, a domestic violence policy coordinator for the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, works with victims of domestic violence, and says this type of aggression almost always impacts more than just the family of the abuser.

Walsh also notes that domestic abuse cases almost always increase in severity as perpetrators seek more and more control over their victims. According to Walsh there have been more than 70 deaths attributed to domestic violence in Arizona so far this year .