(CNN) The families of the nine people slaughtered in a South Carolina church in 2015 can sue the US government for negligence, an appeals court has ruled.

The survivors want to hold the government accountable that shooter Dylann Roof was able to buy the gun he used to open fire in an African-American church.

The US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's ruling that protected the government from liability under two federal laws.

Roof, an avowed white supremacist, was convicted of federal murder and hate crimes charges. He was sentenced to death in January 2017.

He said he felt he had no choice but to kill the worshipers at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015.

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