Posted on 06/27/2002 6:33:36 AM PDT by technochick99
A new congressional study shows that an estimated 3,000 people with domestic-violence convictions were able to buy firearms between 1998 and 2001, because the FBI was unable to complete background checks before the sales went through, the Washington Post reported June 26.
According to a draft report by the General Accounting Office (GAO), federal authorities had to retrieve guns from domestic abusers and more than 8,000 other felons because they were wrongly allowed to purchase the weapons.
"The weapon can be used in a homicide or to terrorize battered women and their children," said Lynn Rosenthal, executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. "These cases are falling through the cracks."
According to the report, the purchases were allowed because of haphazard recordkeeping and other problems with the National Instant Check System (NICS).
Under federal law, FBI authorities have three days to perform a criminal-background check on gun applicants. If the check is not completed in time, the purchase goes through.
Justice Department officials said the NICS has been effective in identifying gun applicants with felony convictions, restraining orders, and other serious criminal matters. But the system falters when identifying misdemeanor domestic-abuse convictions or findings of mental illness because they are usually recorded on paper, and require extensive research to locate.
"We acknowledge that state laws and procedures are currently inadequate to allow the NICS to function correctly to keep guns out of the hands of those who commit crimes of domestic violence," said a Justice Department official. "It's clear that state records are incomplete in this area, and we are directing resources to try and correct the problem."
The GAO study recommended that federal authorities be given as many as 30 days to conduct background checks and to research questionable cases. But some members Congress want to reduce the background check time to 24 hours.
Yet another lie, among thousands of lies, from the gun grabbers. The domestic abusers in question aren't felons, they're misdemeanants. And the author of this piece even admits it later. Truth to a gun grabber is like garlic to a vampire.
It's apparent that the FBI doesn't want the National Instatnt Check System to work, so they are purposely trying to see that NICS doesn't work. Either that or the FBI is F***ed up beyond all recognition (FUBAR)! If NICS is a failure, then the FBI will get their Gestapo database of all firearms transactions back.
I was a victim of a false domestic violence charge which was later dropped since no such thing occured. (The judge didn't even believe her but dropped the charge anyway thank God.) The officer actually arrested me since my girlfriend wouldn't press charges because she and I were merely yelling and a few items got thrown at walls. She didn't even live with me she was only visiting.
To think I could possibly lose a Constitutional right over a bogus situation like that is just plain scary.
Registration leads to confiscation.
Happens all the time.
Hey, that's "sensible," isn't it? Or 60...or 180...
I note that this "study" doesn't address the number of those purchasers who went on to illegally employ those weapons, although surely that information is not difficult to gather. One wonders why not...well, no, one doesn't...
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