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I apologize for the vanity, but I just needed some answers. A friend of mine at work last week went to a local gun store and tried to purchase a $1500 shotgun. It’s some type of Benelli that he has been wanting for some time. The clerk ran the NICS check, and it came up denied. My friend has no disqualifying record, and there was no reason for the FBI to deny him. I (and I think the clerk also) told him that it is probably just a case of mistaken identity. He sent NICS an E-mail to see what...

Filed at 3:11 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- FBI Director Robert Mueller is forming a study group to review the law that let suspected terrorists buy guns in the United States after they cleared background checks. Mueller unveiled his plan to form the Justice Department working group, which will include the FBI, in a letter sent Wednesday to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. The group will also review the government report issued earlier this month that said more than 40 terror suspects were able to buy firearms in the United States last year because background checks showed they had no felony...

I went to a local sporting goods store last Wednesday to purchase a SIG P229. I did not get and immediate PROCEED from NICS. I can think of two possible reasons - I know there is someone in Texas with my exact name with some violent criminal history, and I have a misdemeanor conviction for illegal carrying 3 1/2 years ago (not a dis-qualifier). Either may have set off the alarms for a deeper check. The last dealer purchase I made was before the Brady Law. This dealer told me that if he hasn't heard from NICS in 7 -...

Associated Press WASHINGTON - The government will destroy records on gun buyers after one day because of a provision Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt inserted into the spending bill that became law last week. The length of time for keeping records will be shortened from 90 days to one day after a gun buyer passes a background check. First proposed two years ago by Attorney General John Ashcroft two years ago, the change is a victory for gun rights advocates who argue that keeping the records is an invasion of privacy. Gun control advocates say that destroying records immediately will handicap...

A Times Editorial The NRA poster boyAttorney General John Ashcroft wants information that would keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons, fugitives and illegal aliens purged after a day. © St. Petersburg TimesJuly 30, 2002 Attorney General John Ashcroft's views are so extreme on gun control laws that he finds himself in the position of shielding gun-toting felons and illegal aliens. One would think such a stand would embarrass Ashcroft, who is supposedly in the midst of fighting terrorism inside our borders. Yet Ashcroft's zeal never wavers as he protects his favorite special interest, the gun lobby. His...

JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press WriterWednesday, July 24, 2002 ©2002 Associated Press URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/07/24/national0443EDT0494.DTL (07-24) 01:43 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- Destroying government records of firearm purchases after one day instead of three months could put guns in the hands of criminals who shouldn't have them, congressional investigators say. Attorney General John Ashcroft last year suggested shortening the time period that the government keeps records on people who try to purchase firearms from 90 days to no more than one business day. But doing that would mean that the FBI, which conducts the checks, won't be able to go back to...

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) brims with confidence when he talks about the gun-control proposal he introduced in the House on March 20. At a press conference to unveil the measure, he predicted that the Gun Show Background Check Act of 2002 (HR4034) will not be an issue in the November elections because it already will have passed. His confidence in this major expansion of gun control stems from the willingness of many Americans to accept infringements on constitutional proscriptions after Sept. 11. "Now we've got the terrorist issue," Conyers says in response to a question from Insight. "There are...