For
Immediate Release FY 97-19
Contact: Virginia O’Brien Date: June 27, 1997
12:40 pm.
SUPREME COURT DECISION
Washington-- Today, the
Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the Brady law provisions which require
a Chief Law Enforcement Officer (CLEO) to conduct a background check on prospective
handgun purchasers and to accept the form on which that background check is
based.
The Court left intact all
other provisions of the Brady law. Accordingly:
- Federal firearms licensees
are still required to have handgun purchasers complete a Brady form.
- Licensees still are
required to notify the CLEO where the purchaser lives of the information contained
on the Brady form.
- CLEOs may still voluntarily
conduct background checks.
- Licensees still must
wait five business days from the date they gave notice of the sale to the
CLEO before transferring the handgun unless the licensee is notified sooner
by the CLEO, pursuant to a voluntary background check, that the officer has
no information that receipt or possession of the handgun by the buyer would
violate the law.
For more information, please
call the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ (ATF) Office of Public Information
on (202) 927-8500, or visit the ATF Web site on www.atf.treas.gov.
-end-
This was last updated on August 25, 1998