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Loopholes found in system used to check gun buyers
Deficiencies in an FBI database for criminal background checks allowed 6,000 unauthorized people to buy guns.
By Lenny Savino
INQUIRER WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - Even though the seven-year-old Brady law has prevented tens of thousands of felons from buying guns, at least 6,000 people slipped through the system and purchased firearms over the last 18 months because of state crime-reporting deficiencies, a top FBI official said yesterday.
Although authorities were able to get some of those guns back, FBI assistant director David R. Loesch told senators, there may be thousands more people who were allowed to keep their guns because state computer records often omit felony convictions.
During the same 18 months, the FBI was unable to determine whether more than 180,000 of about 13 million applicants could be disqualified for gun ownership under Brady's provisions because of omissions in state records.
Loesch recommended giving authorities more time to conduct a thorough criminal-history search on potential gun buyers. Under the 1993 Brady law, those background checks must be completed within three business days.
"It would be better to increase the time limit," he said.
The Brady law prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from buying a gun. It also bars purchases by people deemed mentally incompetent or who have domestic orders of protection against them.
The disclosures came during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to examine ways of improving the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. The FBI databank was created especially for the law's mandatory criminal-background checks on all gun buyers. The requirement went into effect on Nov. 30, 1998.
"As currently written," Loesch said, "the Brady law says that if the NICS does not provide a definitive response to the dealer within three business days, the dealer is not prohibited from transferring the firearm."
By June 5, Loesch said, the FBI was aware of 6,084 buyers who were sold firearms after the three days expired and were later determined to be prohibited from owning guns.
It is not clear how many of the guns were taken back, officials said. A General Accounting Office report released in February indicated that by December, investigators for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had retrieved 442 firearms purchased by unauthorized buyers. The FBI refers such cases to the ATF.
"These cases are the highest concern to us, because in many cases the people who have purchased these firearms are convicted felons with a history of violence," said Brad Earman, an ATF special agent.
A typical investigation can take from a few days to several weeks, Earman said.
National Rifle Association officials said they supported criminal history checks but wondered why the system had not been corrected before.
"Bill Clinton and Al Gore need to look in the mirror," said NRA spokesman Bill Powers. "They've taken seven years and $230 million in taxpayer dollars to implement a system that still doesn't work as well as it ought to."
Although the NICS system has loopholes, officials at the hearing agreed that it has been effective in preventing criminals from buying guns.
As of June 5, the FBI estimated that 290,000 of the 13 million prospective gun buyers processed by NICS since 1998 were denied gun ownership. About 70 percent of those were denied for felony convictions, according to FBI records.
Most of the checks have been routine and performed quickly. About 95 percent were completed within two hours, 71 percent within minutes.
Max Schlueter, director of Vermont's Crime Information Center, testified that 80 percent of the state's felony convictions had not been forwarded to the FBI's national computer system because the records did not include fingerprints.
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Lenny Savino's e-mail address is lsavino@krwashington.com [/quote]
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So rather than fixing the system, the FBI wants to increase the waiting time. Hmmmm.
------------------
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
-- Edmund Burke
Loopholes found in system used to check gun buyers
Deficiencies in an FBI database for criminal background checks allowed 6,000 unauthorized people to buy guns.
By Lenny Savino
INQUIRER WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - Even though the seven-year-old Brady law has prevented tens of thousands of felons from buying guns, at least 6,000 people slipped through the system and purchased firearms over the last 18 months because of state crime-reporting deficiencies, a top FBI official said yesterday.
Although authorities were able to get some of those guns back, FBI assistant director David R. Loesch told senators, there may be thousands more people who were allowed to keep their guns because state computer records often omit felony convictions.
During the same 18 months, the FBI was unable to determine whether more than 180,000 of about 13 million applicants could be disqualified for gun ownership under Brady's provisions because of omissions in state records.
Loesch recommended giving authorities more time to conduct a thorough criminal-history search on potential gun buyers. Under the 1993 Brady law, those background checks must be completed within three business days.
"It would be better to increase the time limit," he said.
The Brady law prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from buying a gun. It also bars purchases by people deemed mentally incompetent or who have domestic orders of protection against them.
The disclosures came during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to examine ways of improving the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. The FBI databank was created especially for the law's mandatory criminal-background checks on all gun buyers. The requirement went into effect on Nov. 30, 1998.
"As currently written," Loesch said, "the Brady law says that if the NICS does not provide a definitive response to the dealer within three business days, the dealer is not prohibited from transferring the firearm."
By June 5, Loesch said, the FBI was aware of 6,084 buyers who were sold firearms after the three days expired and were later determined to be prohibited from owning guns.
It is not clear how many of the guns were taken back, officials said. A General Accounting Office report released in February indicated that by December, investigators for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had retrieved 442 firearms purchased by unauthorized buyers. The FBI refers such cases to the ATF.
"These cases are the highest concern to us, because in many cases the people who have purchased these firearms are convicted felons with a history of violence," said Brad Earman, an ATF special agent.
A typical investigation can take from a few days to several weeks, Earman said.
National Rifle Association officials said they supported criminal history checks but wondered why the system had not been corrected before.
"Bill Clinton and Al Gore need to look in the mirror," said NRA spokesman Bill Powers. "They've taken seven years and $230 million in taxpayer dollars to implement a system that still doesn't work as well as it ought to."
Although the NICS system has loopholes, officials at the hearing agreed that it has been effective in preventing criminals from buying guns.
As of June 5, the FBI estimated that 290,000 of the 13 million prospective gun buyers processed by NICS since 1998 were denied gun ownership. About 70 percent of those were denied for felony convictions, according to FBI records.
Most of the checks have been routine and performed quickly. About 95 percent were completed within two hours, 71 percent within minutes.
Max Schlueter, director of Vermont's Crime Information Center, testified that 80 percent of the state's felony convictions had not been forwarded to the FBI's national computer system because the records did not include fingerprints.
--------------------------------------------
Lenny Savino's e-mail address is lsavino@krwashington.com [/quote]
**********
So rather than fixing the system, the FBI wants to increase the waiting time. Hmmmm.
------------------
The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.
-- Edmund Burke