Survivors of a 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, said they find themselves frustrated, confused and angry as the Justice Department nears its deadline to appeal the decision that found the federal government liable in the attack that killed 26 of their fellow churchgoers.
Critics of the Justice Department’s potential appeal, including the surviving victims, said the agency’s stated arguments undermine the background check system — a cornerstone of President Joe Biden’s gun policy priorities. The government’s lawyers claimed during the first trial that the gunman could have purchased firearms elsewhere, even if a background check would have prevented him from legally purchasing them from a licensed gun dealer.
The government has until Jan. 9 to file its appeal, in which it could further argue that the background check system — a key defense in the United States to ensure guns are not acquired by criminals or people with a history of violence — does not work, which critics say is a common talking point of the gun lobby.
The disharmony between the Justice Department’s case and the Biden administration’s gun safety efforts is at the crux of the survivors’ acrimony, along with the fears and pressure that a lost appeal could damage gun safety laws.
“If I had an opportunity to meet President Biden, I would ask him, ‘Why? Why are you doing all this (gun reform) and yet you’re fighting it over here?’” said Juan “Gunny” Macias, a survivor who was shot numerous times in the attack and viewed the president’s gun safety priorities as dissonant with the potential Justice Department appeal.
In July 2021, the government was found liable for failing to provide records that could have kept Devin Kelley from acquiring the weapon he used in the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, and it was ordered to pay the more than 80 survivors and victim family members $230 million. The Justice Department has received two extensions to file its appeal brief, now due next week, and is unlikely to receive another one.

Nbcnews