| NRA-ILA FAX ALERT |
| (800) 392-8683 |
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| Vol. 7, No.10 |
11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030 |
3/10/2000 |
|
GAO REPORTS NICS HAS MAJOR PROBLEMS
|
Sen. Thomas
(R-Wy) |
U.S. Senator Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) requested early last year that the
General Accounting Office (GAO) conduct an audit to examine whether
the National Instant Check System (NICS) is efficiently designed and
effectively managed by the FBI. The study is now complete, and it
shows there are significant problems with NICS that prevent it from
operating as Congress intended. The most glaring problems are:
- 1.2 million, or 28 percent, of all federal firearm checks were not
instant.
- 1,505 individuals were denied the opportunity to purchase firearms as
a result of FBI examiner error or misidentification.
- As of December 31, 1999, BATF Headquarters reported that 3,353
prohibited individuals had obtained firearms, but only had active
criminal investigations on 110 - or 3.3 percent of these individuals.
- NICS failed to meet its operating accountability standards two-thirds
of the time between 11/30/98 and 11/30/99.
- Although NICS has been operational for 15 months, it has yet to be
authorized as secure in accordance with the FBI's own routine
requirements for computer security.
NICS Command Center |
Senator Thomas's release cautioned that
"the new NICS report should
weigh heavily in the President's current push for additional laws to
affect gun purchases and address violence."
Thomas further stated "If
during our oversight of current gun control laws it's found that
criminals still get guns and a high number of legal gun purchases are
denied, you have to question the effectiveness of additional layers of
gun regulation. We have got to get serious about targeting and
prosecuting the criminals and addressing the drug trade that often
precipitates violence."
The GAO report can be found online at
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/g100064.pdf.
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