Posted on 12/24/2004 11:19:51 PM PST by neverdem
WOBURN, Mass., Dec. 24 - When Massachusetts this month became the first state to install an electronic instant-check system complete with a fingerprint scanner for gun licenses and gun purchases, the impact was quickly apparent.
On Wednesday, for example, moments after a court placed a woman's husband under a restraining order, a notice about the order popped up on a new computer terminal at the police station here. Given that information, the Woburn police went to the man's house and confiscated his guns, all 13 of them.
The computer is part of the record-check system and allows the police and gun stores to learn right away if a person can legally own or buy a firearm. The system provides instant updates on arrest warrants, restraining orders and convictions, and it links fingerprint scanners and computers at gun stores and police departments with a central database.
Under Massachusetts law, anyone wanting to buy a gun must first obtain a license from the local police department. Now, when a person applies for the license or goes to buy a gun, his fingerprints can be checked electronically to verify his identity.
"This is a quantum leap in improving public safety and also making it quicker for people to buy a firearm," said Edward A. Flynn, the Massachusetts secretary of public safety. The new computer system was developed by the state's Criminal History Systems Board, part of Mr. Flynn's office.
Philip Mahoney, the police chief in Woburn, a city of 38,000 people just north of Boston, said the new system was particularly valuable because "we get notified in real time about any new restraining orders, warrants and arrests."
Under the old system, based on paper records maintained at individual police stations and gun shops, Mr. Mahoney said, "we might not be notified at all if someone was put under a restraining order."
In the case this week, Mr. Mahoney said: "We were able to go to the individual's house immediately after the restraining order was issued, which is the most dangerous time for a batterer. It's a time when the victim is probably moving out, and the risk of violence is highest."
The new Massachusetts electronic system is in addition to the federal requirement that a gun buyer undergo an instant background check. That check is completed by telephone before the gun is sold, with a clerk in the gun store calling the F.B.I. or a state police agency.
Many of the same records are searched in both checks, but the national instant background check is not as up to date as the new Massachusetts system, particularly for restraining orders, and does not require fingerprint verification.
Mr. Flynn said his office was working with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to try to consolidate the two checks in Massachusetts.
So far there has been no outcry against the new system from gun owners or the state's gun stores.
"Basically, it's all the same information we had to submit before, so this is not more intrusive," said Carl Ingrao, the owner of Four Seasons Firearms in Woburn. His business is the largest gun store in Massachusetts and was used in a pilot project testing the system beginning last June.
"I haven't had any negative comments from customers whatsoever, and I've sold over 2,000 firearms since the system went into effect," Mr. Ingrao said.
"The computer is actually quicker, more efficient and less expensive for the dealer," he said, because under the old paper system each form cost 50 cents, not including the postage for mailing a copy to the Criminal History Systems Board. Mr. Ingrao says he believes the new system will save him about $2,000 a year.
The electronic system is also faster because once a purchaser's identity is confirmed by the fingerprint scan, the computer automatically fills in the buyer's address, date of birth, height, weight and hair and eye color. That data comes from the gun license application.
"A few months ago, they had to take the system down for a day for a software upgrade, and we had to go back to filling out all the old paperwork," Mr. Ingrao said. "My clerks were saying, 'Hey, the computer is better.' "
Gun owners and the gun industry have often complained that background checks are onerous because they take too much time and prevent people from just walking in and buying a gun when they want to. Mr. Flynn said the new system was an effort to answer that criticism by speeding the process.
By law, police departments in Massachusetts have had 45 days to issue a firearms license. But with the instant check system, the police should be able to issue the license in 24 to 48 hours, Mr. Flynn said, and then a customer with a license will be able to buy a gun in a few minutes.
So far, computer terminals linked to the system have been installed in 159 of the state's 351 police departments and at the four largest gun dealers. The goal is to have them installed in all departments and gun stores by next June, Mr. Flynn said.
A customer at Four Seasons Firearms who collects handguns said he had no objection to the electronic system "because I have nothing to hide."
The customer, who declined to be identified, echoing the concerns of many gun owners about their privacy, added: "The law-abiding gun owners are always put on the defensive when some nut shoots someone. The media makes us out to be the bad guys, but we are just following the law."
Bump
This is pure BS! He already had 13 other firearms and just wanted another one- SO WHAT!
Maybe it was going to be a Christmas present for somebody or himself.
If he was going to do something he did not need to get another to do her harm.
LAWYERS SUCK and so do the Mass. cops and judge that did this!
I hope he sues the crap out of ALL of them.
< /total disgust >
Preliminary restraininng orders can be frivolous and are often used by a spiteful spouse.
At this rate, in ten years you'll lose your national RKBA for jaywalking.
Hell, for the accusation that you jaywalked.
Twelve million illegal alien criminal invaders swarming across our nation like starving locusts, and the feds can't seem to them.
But they use an electron microscope to find reasons to take away gun rights from citizens.
I wonder why?
Thanks for the clarification.
I still recall how the police chiefs and associated criminals were trying to get Congress to put an exemption into the bill for the Stasi.
How much longer will the American people tolerate this?
The good citizens of Tiwan had nothing to hide from their government either. Unfortunatly, their government, like ALL governments, is comprised of ordanary people. The results were "unfortunate." http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1282223/posts
Specifically . . . .
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1282223/posts?page=171#171
"...most amazingly, Chinese intelligence services have been able to acquire a file of personal data on nearly every inhabitant on the island of Taiwan."
And from that same post, my observation . . .
Absolutely nothing amazing about it. That data could have only come from the Taiwan government itself. Let the consequences of this little tidbit of intelligence burn in REAL good. Next time someone spouts off about "having nothing to hide," ask them
sorry about the no spell check version... phew!
Yep. All of the records, including gun records, will be available to any govt which by hook or crook inherits power.
Or create so many, no one can sort them out.
For instance, I have six GPS-enabled cell phones, in four states, constantly in motion.
Find me. LOL.
I think it's getting easier and easier for big brother. Your six phones will be easy to sort out. Just a few minutes automated work.
Obviously, none of the 13 were capable of being used in a massacre, but the one he wanted to purchase could be. I feel safer already. </sarcasm>
Yes, that would be difficult. Let's look at the results . . .
Citizens absolute rights are protected absolutely. Perfect.
Americans that previously broke the law and it involved threatening behavior with a firearm which resulted in jail and intense supervision after realease probably are not going to be viewed as good candidates for the "Straighten Your Act and We Give Your Guns Back" program. They are not obeying the law anyway and will obtain firearms illegally so records don't accomplish squat anyway. No loss.
There are no records of Americans that broke some law and currently under supervision having guns. Big deal. If an American that broke the law and is out of jail but "under supervision", well, for what and how are they doing? How long have they been crime free? Are they working and how is that aspect going? Going well? See you at the range. Watch that reciv rate drop thorough the floor.
Off supervision after having been in jail for breaking some law? See you at the range. Militia drill is every third full weekend. Don't be late.
I wonder if it is still on the books?
"Obviously, none of the 13 were capable of being used in a massacre, but the one he wanted to purchase could be. I feel safer already."
I didn't read the story as an attempt to buy firearm number 14. I read it as computerized police notification of restraining orders. The police got pinged, so to speak, with their new, nifty, integrated with fingerprints, system of gun registration.
Was the guy convicted of a felony? No, he was not convicted of anything. There was no charges filed or any trial to determine if he broke any laws. So that means that they stole his guns, plan and simple as that.
In more and more states, restraining orders are included in divorce papers. They have become standard paperwork, irregardless if there was any abuse or not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.