Lawsuits against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are not in the realm of impossibility, but a recent one that has been filed against the agency by the survivors of the recent Charleston church shooting does strike a chord in lieu of recent developments in the fight against more sensible gun laws. The plaintiffs are adamant in their claim that the incident could have been prevented were it not for federal negligence that lead to Dylann Roof being able to get his hands on a .45-caliber handgun.

Three survivors along with the estates of five that were slain during the massacre inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church have now filed several lawsuits against the FBI claiming that they were negligent in their background checking process and that it had directly led to Roof being able to acquire a firearm last year. One of the plaintiff’s lawyers, Attorney Andy Savage, had recently released a statement that expressed their objectives.

“In this case, you had an unqualified purchaser that slipped through the cracks, and the result is what happened on June 17.” Savage had mentioned in an interview with the Associated Press.

The incident that Savage was talking about was of course the tragic shooting of nine African Americans, including the senior pastor and the state senator, Clementa C. Pinckney. Upon further investigation of the case, it was later uncovered that clerical mistakes were actually made which led to Roof’s purchase of the firearm. The transaction itself should have been denied, but a jail clerk apparently entered the incorrect agency contact number which led to problems with the FBI examiners getting the appropriate documents.

Roof’s February 2015 drug arrest would have disqualified him from purchasing a firearm. The examiners spotted the arrest, but the lack of documents allowed the purchase to go through due to the limited number of days for background checks. There are currently a number of bills that had since been passed which extends the typical three day limit, but none of them have passed so far.