I had reason to check on the consequences of misuse of NICS a few years ago and it was potentially a felony under federal law. Credit reporting companies report felony convictions so it's possible they used that avenue. That would be a violation of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act because it would not be for an allowed purpose; e.g. for obtaining credit or insurance, employment checks, and a few others. Governmental units can access them for some reasons but MAIG would not qualify.
MAIG conducting background checks!
- Thread starter Spats McGee
- Start date
Just as an aside... I thought it interesting that they expressed the figure "1 in 30". My guess is that 3.3% seems much less impressive.
I would also guess they don't want to remind people of the debunked "40% no-background-check" figure, as 3.3% is also somewhat less impressive than 40%, and would, as an "actual" (all caveats mentioned above making it plausible the number could be less, or much less) number of "bad" *potential* private transactions, be a better and stronger measure of "the dreadful dangers of the fearsome Gun Show Loophole
".
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain".
It really hurts my tender feelings that they think we're stupid. I wonder if it hurts their feelings that I think they're delusional?
I would also guess they don't want to remind people of the debunked "40% no-background-check" figure, as 3.3% is also somewhat less impressive than 40%, and would, as an "actual" (all caveats mentioned above making it plausible the number could be less, or much less) number of "bad" *potential* private transactions, be a better and stronger measure of "the dreadful dangers of the fearsome Gun Show Loophole
"."Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain".
It really hurts my tender feelings that they think we're stupid. I wonder if it hurts their feelings that I think they're delusional?
Ok, so if the sellers weren't checked, how did they gain any information? I'm can see two possible ways they dug up the information:
Most Likely: they created bogus listings on Armslist, and when people contacted them, they used that information for their "check."
Less Likely: MAIG hacked into Armslist's member log, and ran checks on those who created accounts.
Again, that's only speculation, but based on the above quote from the article, ithose are the only ways I can think that they got the information.