LACK OF ENFORCEMENT COSTS LIVES

"...Benjamin Nathaniel Smith ... was denied the purchase of a firearm under the NICS check ... Mr. Smith should have then been arrested..."

NICS did its job, but where was enforcement?

      We've often heard the President's statistic du jour about how many "felons, fugitives, and stalkers" have been denied the purchase of a gun from an FFL under the Brady Act. Well, this week's headlines prove NRA's point -- the effectiveness of Brady shouldn't be judged by how many alleged lawbreakers are turned away from buying a gun, but rather, by how many are prosecuted and incarcerated.

      Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, the white supremacist who shot and killed two persons and wounded nine others in Illinois and Indiana, was denied the purchase of a firearm under the NICS check. The system worked as intended -- a prohibited individual was denied a gun purchase through an FFL by NICS.

      However, as is too often the case under the Clinton-Gore Administration, there was no prosecutorial follow-up to this violation of federal law. Mr. Smith should have then been arrested, prosecuted, and, if found guilty, incarcerated for the federal felony of attempting to purchase a firearm when disqualified.

      If this was done, he would not have been able to go on his murderous shooting spree. As NRA-ILA Executive Director James Jay Baker noted, "If we are not going to arrest people who violate federal laws, why are we passing them?" Meanwhile, the individual who subsequently and illegally sold the guns to Smith has been charged for this crime, and had been under investigation for illegal gun sales prior to Smith's rampage.

      Ironically, yesterday Cook County (Chicago), Ill. and Atlanta -- both of which have filed reckless lawsuits against gun manufacturers -- announced plans to strictly enforce the laws against criminals carrying guns. Of course, NRA has consistently called for this type of prosecution -- a fact highlighted by our continued promotion of "Project Exile".

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