Law | National

County still lacks record of order in Tulalip Tribes domestic case

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

President Barack Obama signed the Tribal Law and Order Act into law on July 29, 2010. Photo by National Congress of American Indians via Flickr

A county in Washington still has no record of a protection order in a domestic violence case from the Tulalip Tribes, the Associated Press reports.

The tribe's court issued the order against Raymond Lee Fryberg Jr. in 2002. He violated the order and was sentenced to probation in 2012, according to a complaint against him in federal court.

But Snohomish County was never given a copy of the order, the clerk told the AP. Although the tribe has since entered into an agreement to share data, the process is not automatic and not all cases are required to be shared, the AP said.

Had the county received the order, it would have been entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The information would have prevented Fryberg from acquiring five firearms, one of which his late son used in a fatal school shooting last October.

Section 233 of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 states that tribes "shall" be given access to federal criminal information databases. It also states that tribe should be able to "access and enter information" into the systems.

Nearly five years later, the Department of Justice has not fully complied with the law. In November 2014, the FBI announced that tribes can "access" the National Instant Criminal Background Check System but they still cannot "enter" information into it.

“I can’t think of a single tribe that wants abusers to have access to firearms, but despite our efforts, we keep hitting roadblocks,” attorney and professor Sarah Deer, a member of the Muscogee Nation who recently won a genius grant for her work on domestic violence issues, told the AP.

Fryberg was indicted last week in federal court for possessing a firearm despite being under a domestic violence protection order. He allegedly marked "no" on a form when asked whether he is subject to such an order.

The October 24, 2014, shooting at the Marysville-Pilchuck High School claimed the lives of four young people and another was wounded by gunfire. The shooter turned the gun on himself.

Get the Story:
Flaw in reporting tribal cases stymies gun background checks (AP 4/7)

Federal Register Notice:
National Instant Criminal Background Check System Regulation (November 20, 2014)