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Typical liberal politicians. All hype and no substance. They are prostitutes to special interests, and they don't really believe what they advocate. Its all about maintaining or gaining power and never about actually solving problems. |
Posted on 10/17/2002 3:31:58 AM PDT by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Maryland, a state with some of the toughest gun laws in America, went nearly six months this year without providing the FBI with criminal records of potential gun buyers - the essential component in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said Maryland was the only state refusing to provide those records, the collection of which is mandated by Congress as part of the Brady Act.
"This refusal by Maryland, the only state to do so, meant the gun background check system run by the FBI did not have the valuable information necessary to prevent criminals from obtaining guns, thereby putting public safety needlessly at risk," Sensenbrenner said in a statement.
"Maryland's failure affects every state because a Maryland felon might, for example, try to illegally buy a gun in Virginia. If the Maryland State Archives refuses to search its criminal history records, Maryland felons can purchase guns that they are otherwise prohibited from purchasing," he said.
The Maryland State Archives in March informed the federal government that it would no longer be able to participate in the background check system unless it was reimbursed for the work, according to Sensenbrenner. Then, earlier this month, archives officials began furnishing the information again, but warned that they needed more money from the NICS program in order to continue, he said.
Sensenbrenner has asked the General Accounting Office to investigate how Maryland spent the $6.7 million he says it received from the instant background check program since 1995. He has also called on Maryland Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, now a Democratic candidate for governor, to cooperate with the General Accounting Office.
"Background checks can only be as effective as the records that are available to be checked," Sensenbrenner concluded.
Spokespersons for both Maryland Democratic Governor Parris Glendening and Townsend referred calls seeking comment to the Maryland Department of Public Safety.
Leonard Sipes, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said it was a "silly assertion" on Sensenbrenner's part, to accuse Maryland officials of increasing the risk to public safety.
"In excess of 98 percent of firearms ... sold in the state of Maryland are [checked] by the Maryland State Police. That includes 45 [types of] assault weapons," Sipes said.
Federal background checks in the state only apply to non-assault related weapons like 22-caliber and 30-aught-six rifles and shotguns, he added. "The FBI does the checks before the person can purchase them. When the FBI does these checks, they check our (Maryland Department of Public Safety) database and the (Maryland State) court system database which is accurate back to 1982."
Sipes did criticize the Maryland State Archives for failing to supply the FBI with the criminal records for a portion of this year without consulting other members of Maryland's criminal justice system, but said archives officials acted out of budgetary reasons.
Maryland's head state archivist concurred.
"We just didn't have the staff to do it," Edward C. Papenfuse, the head state archivist, reportedly said. "We had been doing it quietly for free but we got to the point where everyone's budgets were being cut, and we couldn't do it anymore," said Papenfuse.
Papenfuse said his agency has received none of the $6.7 million in federal funds that have been allocated to Maryland since 1995 to modernize its criminal record-keeping and help it comply with federal gun control laws.
He said he wrote to Glendening in March to ask for money to pay a staff member to perform the background checks for the FBI, but was told no funds were available until July 1.
Sipes emphasized that the halt in the background checks affected "a fairly small number of firearms for a very limited period of time."
"The overwhelming majority of record checks were properly done," he said. Sipes added that, "The state archives is in the process of going back and redoing the ones that they didn't do. Whether they can get them all, I cannot answer that."
Townsend's gubernatorial opponent, Republican Robert Ehrlich, was quick to criticize the administration in Annapolis.
"The Glendening-Townsend administration and its chief crime fighter, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, have failed to meet their most basic obligation: to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. I share the frustration that Maryland's law enforcement community must feel. Their job got a lot more difficult because Lieutenant Governor Townsend failed to do hers," said Ehrlich on Wednesday.
Maryland Republican Congresswoman Connie Morrella, whose House district includes the locations of several of the recent sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C. region, said "faulty records" are to blame for "10,000 illegal gun buyers" obtaining a firearm over the last two-and-a-half years.
In a campaign position paper, Townsend said Maryland's "tough, common sense gun laws have resulted in a 40 percent drop in violent gun related crime since 1995." She added that, "Multiple sales of weapons have dropped by 62 percent from 1996 to 2000."
Townsend also boasts of having fought to close the "gun show loophole," which she says, ensured that "private gun salesmen abide by the same waiting period as licensed gun dealers.
"Previously, criminals could buy guns at gun shows on a cash and carry basis," according to Townsend.
Nowhere in the position paper is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System mentioned.
The Brady Act prohibits people convicted of certain crimes, the mentally incompetent, illegal aliens and persons visiting the United States under student or visitor visas from buying firearms.
The National Instant Background Check System, administered by the FBI, is used by gun store owners to screen potential gun buyers. It relies on states and other federal agencies to provide criminal, mental health and other records, but many are incomplete or outdated.
Background checks for prospective gun buyers have been required since 1994 under the Brady Act. Federal officials have estimated that more than 689,000 people have been denied a gun for failing the checks.
The U.S. House Tuesday passed on a voice vote a bill that would authorize grants to states to help them upgrade or establish technology for conducting criminal background checks for firearms eligibility. Similar legislation awaits action in the Senate, where it has the support of the National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign Against Handgun Violence.
Meanwhile, a Mason-Dixon opinion poll released Wednesday found the race between Townsend and Ehrlich virtually even.
Forty-six percent of those surveyed said they would vote for Townsend while 45 percent said they supported Ehrlich.
It was the first opinion poll taken since the sniper attacks began in the Washington area. Two-thirds of those polled found Maryland residents are "very anxious" or "somewhat anxious" about going about their daily routines because of the shootings. Twenty-five percent of those surveyed said they have changed their daily lives. However, 84 percent of those polled said the attacks wouldn't affect how they would vote in the November election.
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Typical liberal politicians. All hype and no substance. They are prostitutes to special interests, and they don't really believe what they advocate. Its all about maintaining or gaining power and never about actually solving problems. |
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