-Caveat Lector- http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/03/21/gun.checks/index.html False IDs fool gun background checks Government report says system can't keep guns away from felons March 21, 2001 Web posted at: 12:20 p.m. EST (1720 GMT) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A government report released Wednesday indicates that the nation's system of instant background checks for firearms purchasers stumbles when potential buyers use false identification. The General Accounting Office sent undercover agents with false IDs to gun dealers in five states. The undercover operation, requested by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, found that investigators equipped with false IDs were able to purchase firearms in every instance. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks potential buyers for a criminal record but has no requirements to determine if the buyer is using a false identity. Using off-the-shelf software to produce counterfeit identification for fictitious identities, the agents went to licensed gun dealers in Virginia, West Virginia, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona. The agents came away with rifles, handguns, semiautomatic weapons, pistols, ammunition clips and hollow-point bullets. The report concluded that NICS "cannot ensure that the prospective purchaser is not a felon." Earlier reports give mixed reviews NICS was established in 1998 by the 1993 Brady Act, a piece of gun control legislation named for Jim Brady, a former Republican White House press secretary. Brady was shot and permanently paralyzed in the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. After the shooting, Brady and his wife, Sarah, devoted much of their time and energy to gun control, including promoting the Act, which required a waiting period and background check for purchase of a handgun. Gun control opponents fervently opposed the Brady Act both during congressional debate on it and after the vote was taken and the Act passed. Such opponents periodically issue statements and reports touting the ineffectiveness of the Act. But proponents are equally adamant in the law's defense. The FBI's own report on NICS' first 13 months in operation, from November 1998 to December 1999, indicated some success. That report said the background checks had legally kept handguns away from 2,400 people on various wanted lists, often ending in an arrest. Additionally, the report said that nearly 200,000 "felons, fugitives and other prohibited persons" were also denied permits. But a separate GAO report issued in early 2000 on the system's first year in operation noted that another 2,519 people were allowed to buy guns and later determined to be prohibited from doing so. Most of the problems with the system cited in that report centered around difficulties in joining state and federal information systems and an occasional lack of clear understanding of state procedures on the part of federal investigators. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
