KEEPING
GUNS OUT OF THE WRONG HANDS
A Report
10/26/05
A
person walks into a store, shops around for a while,
then comes up to the counter and says to the cashier, "I'd
like to buy that sweet S&W 639/39 9mm." The
cashier smiles and says, "Great, may I see
some identification, please?"...and then runs
a "background
check" right there, on the spot, to make sure
that person doesn't have a criminal record or isn't
otherwise ineligible to buy that gun.
Have you seen our new report on
how well and how quickly these prospective gun/explosives
buyers are vetted before a sale takes place? It's
called The
National Instant Criminal Background Check System
Operational Report, 2003-2004, and we
think you'll find it fascinating reading.
For example, can you answer
these four questions:
-
How many background checks
have been performed on gun buyers since the
program began in November 1998?
-
How many background checks
have been performed on people trying to buy
explosives since the program began in 2002?
-
How many "ineligible" people
are now in the system?
-
How many people have been
DENIED the purchase of guns since 1998?
The numbers should get
your attention:
-
Over 53 MILLION background
checks on gun buyers have
been performed from 1998-2004. (Nearly 60
million as of 9/30/05.)
-
Over 65,000 background
checks on explosives buyers have
been performed from 2002-2004. (Nearly 100,000
as of 9/30/05.)
-
Some 3.9 MILLION ineligible
people are in the system, so that
if they try to buy a gun, they will not be
able to.
-
From 1998-2004, some
400,000 people have been denied the purchase
of firearms by the FBI alone, not
counting the denials processed by state and
local agencies that conduct their own background
checks. (Some 450,000 as of 9/30/05.)
But it's the cases that tell
the real story. We'd like to tell you
the result of just one single background check—it
happened to be our 50 millionth background
check on September 20, 2004—before
sending you off to delve into the
report itself.
That day in September, a licensed
firearms dealer in Texas called in a prospective
sale to our examiner only to discover that the
buyer validly matched the subject of a criminal
warrant issued for aggravated assault. Our
examiner immediately contacted the local sheriff's
office that had issued the warrant and was told
the warrant was active—in fact, the subject
had been arrested on charges that included kidnapping
and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. SALE
DENIED...and the man was re-arrested by the local
county sheriff's office. That's what we mean by Keeping
Guns Out of the Wrong Hands.
Resources: The
National Instant Criminal Background Check System
