It doesn't have to be a felony conviction. A DV conviction, even for a petty offense (ie: harassment) or misdemeanor (false imprisonment, push/shove/kick on a domestic partner, etc...) shall preclude the purchase of a firearm. If he was convicted in any of the 50 states or in a military tribunal, he should have been prohibited via Instacheck, the FBI's firearms-related database that pulls info directly from NCIC. The military doesn't offer DJ's for domestic based offenses, and the Bad Conduct Discharge also should have flagged this purchase. It's surprising that, apparently having 2 strikes on his records, he was still able to legally purchase this firearm.