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Today I saw the proposal/purchase information for the modernization of PICS, which is the background check computer system run by the Pennsylvania State Police. (PA doesn't use the national system). What I learned was interesting. First, the current system is not connected to any mental health records. The new system will be. Second, nearly $500,000 will be spent on the new system. That is the initial price tag, but given it is government, it will probably be double, if not triple.

In a paper published in 2008, comparing highly regulated Californian gun shows with relatively unregulated Texas gun shows, there was no statistical difference in suicide rates, but the Texas shows, with far less regulation, showed a statistically significant drop in the homicide rate. From the study: "But our results provide little evidence of a gun show-induced increase in mortality in Texas. In fact, we find that in the two weeks following a gun show, the average number of gun homicides declines in the area surrounding the gun show. Aggregating across all gun shows in the state, we find that there...

During the National Rifle Association’s meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and the White House gun violence task force, the vice president said that the administration did not have the time to prosecute existing gun laws. Jim Baker, the NRA representative present at the meeting, recalled the vice president’s words to The Daily Caller: “And to your point, Mr. Baker, regarding the lack of prosecutions on lying on Form 4473s, we simply don’t have the time or manpower to prosecute everybody who lies on a form, that checks a wrong box, that answers a question inaccurately.” Submitting false information on...

WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) - Police say a 24-year-old woman has been charged in connection with the ambush slaying of two volunteer firefighters responding to a house fire in upstate New York.

WASHINGTON -- Is an arrest in a barroom brawl 20 years ago a job disqualifier? Not necessarily, the government said Wednesday in new guidelines on how employers can avoid running afoul of laws prohibiting job discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's updated policy on criminal background checks is part of an effort to rein in practices that can limit job opportunities for minorities that have higher arrest and conviction rates than whites. But some employers say the new policy -- approved in a 4-1 vote -- could make it more cumbersome and expensive to conduct background checks. Companies see the...

Gov. Bob McDonnell said if it's legally feasible, he'd support doing away with Virginia's 22-year-old criminal background check program for firearms purchases in favor of a federal system that also screens prospective gun buyers for eligibility to obtain weapons. Gun rights groups have pressed the McDonnell administration on the issue, calling for an end to the Virginia Firearms Transaction Program, a state police-administered system for checking the criminal history of potential purchasers. Supporters of the state program say it's an additional safeguard to ensure state gun laws are upheld and attempts to illegally purchase weapons are investigated by local authorities....

Virginia's criminal background check system for firearm purchases, the first of its kind in the nation, is being targeted for elimination. Gun-rights advocates have lobbied Gov. Bob McDonnell to scrap the program, arguing that it is redundant because a federal background check system can replace it. Gun-control groups say doing so would take a valuable law enforcement tool away from Virginia State Police and undermine state gun laws. Efforts to cancel the state's 22-year-old background check system, known as the Virginia Firearms Transaction Program, could be debated in the upcoming General Assembly session. Republicans will control state government for the...

Hi: I was wondering if anyone can help me out. It seems most of the jobs in Bureau of Land Management (DOI) require: background check/security clearance. Some of them require SF-86 which includes travel history. I was born in Hong Kong (left young for Canada to escape communism), then came to US and ended up being citizen here. I still have citizenship status in HK and Canada (sorry Freepers, don't get mad at me). I traveled alot back to Canada, up to 5 times per year on very short trips (long weekend to 1-week trips), spending up to 1 month...

In a world where potential employers will almost certainly toss your name into a search engine before considering you for a job, we should all be very careful about what we put online. However, sometimes we slip up, leaving a nasty smear on an otherwise pristine social networking persona. Now, thanks to a ruling by the FTC, background checking services can store those unfortunate moments for up to 7 years after you've deleted them from the web. A company called Social Intelligence — which provides background checks for companies during the hiring process — recently drew ire from would-be employees...

Alabama Passes Mandatory E-Verify & Immigration Enforcement Bill Friday, June 3, 2011, 1:25 PM EDT An Alabama House and Senate conference committee agreed on a new bill, which both chambers have already passed, that requires the use of E-Verify by all businesses in the state and includes several immigration enforcement provisions. Should Gov. Robert Bentley sign the bill into law, it would become one of the largest state crackdowns on illegal immigration in the country. The bill requires all businesses, public and private, to begin using E-Verify effective April 1, 2012. Businesses that do not comply face suspension of its...

Despite the Libyan crisis and ongoing problems with America's massive deficit, last week President Obama decided it was time to focus on gun control. He wrote an op-ed, challenged the NRA to negotiate new gun control regulations, and met with gun control groups. Of course, Obama's op-ed says he supports gun rights. Yet, he also emphasizes that he doesn't want people to "shout at one another" and supports "reasonable laws." Alas, this is simply positioning for the 2012 presidential election and does not accurately describe his true agenda on gun control. Obama claimed in his op-ed: “My administration has not...

Gun rights blogger Thirdpower notes today the Catch-22 that some legislators in Illinois (and elsewhere) would like to impose on firearms commerce: When I've countered that while the same time the push is for all sales to go through FFL dealers, there is a simultaneous drive to reduce and eliminate as many firearm dealers as possible, I'm called paranoid. He refers to the nexus of bills like HB 1296/SB 2026, to require all gun sales (the bills say they refer only to handgun sales, and not long guns--more on that in a bit) to go through licensed dealers, and bills...

As revelations keep gushing out about Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” (whatever that is), Van Jones, Americans are baffled as to how a self- professed communist and 9/11 Truther made it through any sort of screening process. Most citizens presume that the president’s appointed Czars and Czarinas are scrutinized by experts. America, stop fretting about how anti-American radicals are getting through the FBI background checks. Because there are no FBI background checks. Anyone with access to Google could have had Jones figured out in about five minutes.

President-Elect Tries To Weed Out Controversial Candidates Applicants for President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet get ready to chronicle your life story. Those interested in joining Obama's administration have to pass an extensive background test. The questionnaire, the New York Times reported, includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps, the Times said. Obama wants applicants to “list all aliases or ‘handles’ you have used to communicate on the...

Heard on the radio this morning, from the Chicago Police Department spokesman, that *2* forms of identification will be required to enter Barack Obama's election night soiree' - known in these parts as "Obamapalooza". Spokesman said bring your photo ID and a postmarked letter which has been mailed to you with your address - and it had better match your photo ID. You don't even need 2 forms of ID to vote in the election!

Democrats in Boise, Idaho are pretending they've done nothing wrong, as Democrats are wont, wide-eyed in amazement that anyone would question their morality after they produced a political mailer that gave out the Social Security numbers of a political opponent in a 1st Congressional District race there. The Republican, Bill Sali and his wife Terry, found their SS# printed on a mailer put out by the Idaho Democratic Party that raises concerns about past due taxes that the Sali family had earlier in their marriage. The mailer contained copies of records of the Sali's past tax problems in an effort...

A while back, radio talk show host Michael Savage brought up the notion that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama couldn’t pass a background investigation to become an FBI special agent. He doesn’t know how right he is. Sen. Barack Obama wouldn’t pass a routine government background investigation, not only to become an FBI agent, but a police officer as well. If he were a soldier, his background would preclude him from obtaining a security clearance. He wouldn’t even qualify to be a support person in a federal agency, such as secretary, for that matter. His past cocaine usage disqualifies...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Renewed Attack on Privacy of Gun Buyers   Friday, May 02, 2008   This week, anti-gun U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) registration legislation that would invade the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners.Cosponsored by like-minded Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Charles Schumer (D-NY), S. 2935 would, among other things, require the FBI to retain records of cleared firearm transactions for at least 180 days.  Current law requires...

Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's previously stalled bill toughening the national gun background check system in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings sailed through both chambers of Congress within hours yesterday after a flurry of legislative activity. "I don't know whether to laugh or to cry," said McCarthy (D-Mineola), who saw her legislation pass the House in June only to have it blocked in the Senate. "You don't know how many times it's come to this point." In a statement, Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, "This simple but very important bill has been a long time coming. It will...

WASHINGTON -- Since the Virginia Tech shootings last spring, the FBI has more than doubled the number of people nationwide who are prohibited from buying guns because of mental health problems, the Justice Department said Thursday. Justice officials said the FBI's Mental Defective File has ballooned from 175,000 names in June to nearly 400,000, primarily additions from California. The names are listed in a subset of a database that gun dealers are supposed to check before completing their sales. The surge in names underscores the vastness of the gap in FBI records that allowed Seung-hui Cho to purchase the handguns...