WASHINGTON - U.S. Congressman David N. Cicilline (D-RI), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, today requested that the Attorney General of the United States, Loretta Lynch, open an investigation into how John Russell Houser was able to legally purchase a handgun despite being involuntarily committed to a mental institution in 2008. Houser used the .40-caliber handgun to murder two people and wound nine others in a Louisiana movie theater last week.

"Neither Houser nor Dylann Roof should have been able to get their hands on a gun. That much is obvious," wrote Cicilline. "What is less clear is why the existing background check system has failed twice already this year, and what must be done to prevent such failures in the future."

Reports indicate that Houser was involuntarily committed to a mental institution in 2008 by a Georgia probate judge - a fact that should have barred him from purchasing a gun under existing Federal law [18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4)]. Houser had also been denied a concealed carry permit in the State of Alabama in 2006 due to a lengthy criminal arrest record.

Just weeks ago, FBI Director James Comey initiated a 30-day review of Dylann Roof's handgun purchase after conceding that failures in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System allowed the transaction to go through despite the alleged Charleston shooter's record of substance abuse that should have disqualified him under existing Federal law [18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3)].

Cicilline has introduced three gun violence prevention bills, including the End Purchase of Firearms by Dangerous Individuals Act that would require each state to establish a new reporting system to prevent individuals with serious mental illness from buying a gun.

In his letter, the Rhode Island Congressman acknowledges that leaders in Congress "possess neither the willingness nor the political courage to address this serious threat to our country's security." Instead, Cicilline requests that Attorney General Lynch open an investigation into Houser's purchase of a firearm and determine what the Obama administration can do to prevent future tragedies in the face of Congressional inaction.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there are more than 7,200 individuals who have been murdered and nearly 15,000 more injured as a result of gun violence in the United States so far this year.