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Saturday, June 30, 2001

Schumer's bill would require federal officials to hold the records for 90 days.

Schumer and anti-gun activists claim the quick erasure of the records will make it difficult to crack down on illegal gun trafficking.

"Gun dealers and criminals are the only Americans who will benefit from Attorney General Ashcroft's decision to destroy essential records," Schumer said. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., introduced a companion bill in the House.

Privacy Issue

Ashcroft said the change would help protect legitimate gun buyers' privacy.

But advocates of gun control said the quick erasing of the records would make it difficult or impossible to audit gun dealers and track illegal gun trafficking masked as legitimate sales.

Schumer, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had expressed doubt over Ashcroft's ability to divorce his views against gun control during Ashcroft's confirmation hearings. "Sen. Ashcroft has been a leading advocate against gun control," Schumer, a leading advocate for gun control, said at the opening of the hearings in January. "He has vociferously opposed even child safety locks and the assault weapons ban. When the U.S. attorney in New York or Wisconsin calls him and pleads for more resources to prosecute gun runners, will this be a priority?"

Ashcroft's proposal comes four days after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the National Rifle Association's assertion that the FBI practice of keeping records on gun owners was illegal under the Brady Act. The instant check replaced a five-day waiting period.

Ashcroft also directed the FBI to review the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to ensure the 62 million records in the system reflect accurate and up-to-date information on the disposition of court cases.

"The back check system is only as good as the criminal records it contains. Many of the over 62 million criminal history records note an arrest, but fail to specify how the arrest was resolved. That makes it impossible for the NICS examiner to know the outcome of the case," said Ashcroft.

Gun shop owners phone one of two call centers to conduct the instant criminal background checks. About 71 percent of those calls into the center receive either a "proceed" with sale or "deny" sale from the investigators. About 97 percent of the denied sales are completed within 72 hours either because investigators find no adverse information in the record that would ban the sale, or court records are incomplete.

Under the Brady Act, if the court records cannot be confirmed, the sale is completed by default. DOJ officials estimate that 45,000 default sales are made annually, about 1 percent of all gun sales run through the instant check system.

"A recent FBI study found that between April and December of the year 2000 over 45,000 applicants with an open arrest record were allowed to purchase guns because the three-day requirement was not met. Improving the criminal history records will decrease this number, and it will speed up the approval process for law-abiding purchasers," Ashcroft said.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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