Homeless in Arizona

The Second Amendment doesn't list any EXCEPTION in it, so my view is anybody should be able to buy a gun.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

All you have to do is answer NO to all the questions on the background check, and there is a good chance that even if you are a prohibited buyer, you might pass the check.

Source

How Background Checks Are Conducted For US Gun Sales

by Martha Bellisle AP March 11, 2018 9:35 a.m. | Seattle

When someone buys a weapon from a gun dealer in the U.S., they are subjected to a background check to see if they have a criminal record, mental illness or other issues that prevent them from owning weapons

It’s a process that has received attention following recent mass killings and as Congress pushes to improve the background check system.

Here is an explanation of the process:

How Do Background Checks Work?

In most cases, the first step in buying a firearm is to fill out a form that asks a list of questions to find out if the buyer can legally have a gun.

America’s Gun Background Check System Riddled With Flaws

The person must check a box to reveal whether he or she has been convicted of a felony, is a fugitive from justice, has been dishonorably discharged from the armed forces, is a subject of a domestic violence restraining order, has been found by a court to have a mental illness, among other things.

If the person answers, “yes” to any of the questions, they are blocked from buying the gun. If they answer “no,” the next step is for the dealer to run the buyer’s name through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, to see if any records show the buyer was not telling the truth.

The FBI boasts on its website that it takes about eight minutes to process a background check over the phone. If a gun dealer uses an online check, it takes less than two minutes.

Are There Gaps In The System?

Critics point out that the background check system is riddled with issues that let problematic buyers slip through the cracks.

For example, if nothing comes up on the background check search, the buyer walks out the door with the firearm. If something turns up but the records can’t immediately be found, the FBI then has three days to identify the problem. If they fail to meet that deadline, the dealer must release the gun to the buyer.

That’s what happened with Dylann Roof, the man who fatally shot nine people at a South Carolina church in 2015. The FBI failed to confirm a pending drug charge against Roof within the three-day waiting period, and he was able to take the gun home.

Some people have proposed extending the denial period to two weeks to give law enforcement more time to conduct a thorough investigation.

In most cases, if gun buyers take the weapon home, but records later shows they’re prohibited from having one, federal agents have to go take the firearm back.

How Many Background Checks Are Run?

A 2016 report by the Justice Department’s Inspector General said the FBI processed 51 million NICS transactions between 2008 and 2014, and only 556,496 were denied, or about 1 percent.

States handled 68 million NICS transactions during that same period. The Inspector General’s report didn’t say how many of the state cases were denied.

The FBI reports that since NICS started in 1998, there have been 1.5 million denials, with the majority being because the person had been convicted of crimes.

More than 25 million background checks were run through NICS in 2017, according to the Department of Justice. Searches have steadily increased since the 8.5 million hits in 2000. Kentucky leads the country in requests, with more than 400,000 in January 2018.

How Do Mental Health Records Get Reported?

Submitting mental health records to the system is one of the more complicated and fractured pieces of the reporting puzzle. Not all agencies understand what must be sent, so many records are missing.

After the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, in which a shooter with an extensive mental illness record was able to purchase guns, the Government Accountability Office conducted a study to find out how states handled mental health reporting.

The study found that 12 states had increased their reporting between 2004 and 2011, but “technology, legal and other challenges” kept some states from sharing mental health records. Some states were reporting criminal records related to drug use, but in 2012, the Department of Justice showed that 30 states were failing to make non-criminal records available.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, based in Newtown, Connecticut, has a program that tracks legislation and rates states based on reporting. Pennsylvania ranks the highest, with 831,886 mental health records submitted as of Dec. 31, 2016. Wyoming is at the bottom, with only seven records sent to NICS, the group said.

Whose Job Is It To Conduct Background Checks? In most states, gun dealers contact the FBI directly for background checks. In others, they contact the state.

Making it even more complicated, some states serve as the point of contact for handguns but not rifles and shotgun purchases, which are screened by the FBI.

In Washington state, the NICS check for the long gun can happen within minutes, while the handgun check can take up to 10 days, said Kyle Moore, spokesman for the Washington State Patrol.

Another challenge is weapons sold at gun shows or between individuals. Those transactions are only subjected to background checks if the seller is a federally licensed firearms dealer. If they aren’t, then most of those sales do not require background checks — something Democrats in Congress have long fought to change. Only nine states and the District of Columbia require gun show and private party gun sale background checks.

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Source

Gun background check system riddled with flaws

Updated Mar 10, 11:40 AM; Posted Mar 10, 11:41 AM

By The Associated Press

SEATTLE -- Recent mass shootings have spurred Congress to try to improve the United States' gun background check system. It's a system that has failed on numerous occasions to keep weapons out of the hands of dangerous people.

The problem with the legislation, analysts say, is that it works only if federal agencies, the military, states, courts and local law enforcement do a better job of sharing information with the background check system -- and they have a poor track record in doing so. Some of the country's most horrific mass shootings have shown major holes in the database reporting system, including massacres at Virginia Tech in 2007 and at a Texas church last year.

Despite the failures, many states still aren't meeting key benchmarks with their background check reporting. Meeting the goals enables them to receive federal grants similar to what's being proposed in the current legislation.

"It's a completely haphazard system; sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't," said Georgetown University law professor Larry Gostin. "When you're talking about school children's lives, rolling the dice isn't good enough."

In theory, the FBI's background check database, tapped by gun dealers during a sale, should have a definitive list of people who are prohibited from having guns -- people who have been convicted of crimes or committed to mental institutions or who received dishonorable discharges from the military or are addicted to drugs. But in practice, the database is incomplete.

It's up to local police, sheriffs' offices, the military, federal and state courts, Native American tribes and, in some places, hospitals and treatment providers to send criminal or mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. But some don't always do so, or they might not send them in a timely fashion.

Some agencies don't know what to send; states often don't spend money to ensure someone handles the data; no system of audits exists to find out who's not reporting; and some states lack the political will to set up a functioning and efficient reporting process, analysts said. "The system is riddled with opportunities for human error," said Kristin Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

A proposal in Congress seeks to establish a structured system for federal agencies to send records to the FBI database. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas says the legislation, often called "Fix NICS," will save lives.

"We should start with what's achievable and what will actually save lives, and that describes the 'Fix NICS' bill. It will help prevent dangerous individuals with criminal convictions and a history of mental illness from buying firearms," Cornyn said.

Often left out of the debate in Washington is that similar legislation passed after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. But many records are still not being sent to the database.

The Justice Department even set up a new grant program that offered states help with their reporting system, but many didn't apply. In 2016, only 19 states and one Native American tribe received a total of $15 million. The number of states now participating is 31.

He worries it might violate due process for people on background check system

Several states aren't eligible for the grant because they haven't set up a system leading to restoration of rights for a person who was prohibited from having a gun due to mental health issues. The National Rifle Association has long pushed for those types of restoration requirements, Brown said.

Important mental health records that would have kept Seung-Hui Cho from getting the guns he used to kill 32 people at Virginia Tech were never entered into FBI system. The gunman who killed dozens at a Texas church in November was able to buy weapons because the Air Force didn't send his domestic violence conviction to the database.

And the father of a teenager who killed himself and four classmates at a Washington state high school in 2014 was able to buy several guns, including the one his son used, because the Tulalip Tribal Court had not shared his domestic violence protection order with Marysville, Wash., authorities, who would have sent it to the background check system. Since then, the tribe received a $333,841 grant to help improve its criminal records reporting.

The man who walked into a Carson City, Nev., IHOP restaurant with an assault weapon in 2011 and killed four people had a history of mental illness, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and had been taken into custody by police in nearby California under the state's involuntary commitment law. But under federal law, people are prohibited from having a firearm only if they have been "adjudicated as a mental defective" or committed to a mental institution. The federal law doesn't include involuntary commitments.

Some states have enacted their own laws that limit gun ownership based on mental health issues. But they're all different, according to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Analysts say many agencies don't know what type of mental health information to send to the national database. Brown said many agencies, hospitals and treatment providers are under the mistaken impression that federal medical privacy laws prevent them from sharing information with the system.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong, who handled the IHOP mass shooting, said the biggest roadblock to creating a comprehensive system is privacy concerns. Some are afraid that if they report their relatives, they'll be arrested, he said, and agencies feel stifled by privacy laws.

"When someone is in crisis, why are we waiting to respond?" Furlong asked. "We have a public safety responsibility to prevent something from happening before we have to use force."

The federal legislation being considered in Congress might help ensure more criminal records reach the background check database, but it has limitations because Congress can't force states to enact laws. And it doesn't address gaps in mental health commitment reporting, Gostin said. "Because mental health records are critical to the integrity of the system," he said, "the bill leave a significant gap."

Some states have passed their own laws requiring agencies to report to national system. But few keep track of whether that's happening, and most don't have penalties for failing to submit records.

"They're not reporting, but there are no repercussions," said Cassandra Crifasi of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. "What is there to encourage people to follow the law?"