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Background Checks Fail to Keep Guns From Felons NewsMax.com WiresWASHINGTON (UPI) – Flaws in the U.S. system for carrying out instant background checks on gun buyers could be allowing thousands of felons to buy guns illegally each year, USA Today reported Thursday. "It makes me nervous," says David Loesch, an assistant FBI director in charge of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Much of the problem, officials say, stems from the criminal justice system's traditional failure to track cases after an arrest. Police agencies dutifully report arrests to the FBI, but they often lose track of cases when they go to court. Prosecutors, judges and clerks aren't required to tell the FBI whether an arrest leads to a conviction. The FBI estimates that there were as many as 200,000 gun sales to felons and others who are barred from owning guns, the newspaper said. It said the reason was that incomplete or missing criminal records kept background checks from being done within three business days, as required by U.S. law. The check system, created by the landmark Brady Act of 1993, is designed to keep licensed dealers from selling guns to convicted felons, fugitives, people who are under felony indictments or subject to restraining orders, mental incompetents and those who have been dishonorably discharged from the military. Without proof of a felony conviction, a gun sale cannot be stopped. If there is evidence of an arrest, FBI checkers pursue the case for up to three weeks. After that, officials say, it's unlikely they will ever solve the court records mystery. Occasionally, proof of a conviction is found after the three-day deadline passes - and after a gun is sold. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms goes after those guns. Since 1998, the ATF has seized guns from 9,300 buyers with no major problems. "The FBI must be pulling its hair out dealing with these differences in different states," says Catherine Kimball, a Louisiana Supreme Court justice who leads a court technology committee in her state. The public assumes that criminal records are up to date and available at the push of a button, she says. But "that's just not the case. It's a gargantuan problem." Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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