The Washington Times: The latest ATF attempt to harass and discourage gun owners

Gun owners and constitutionalists at large are growing increasingly concerned by an invasive new policy to be enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which will mandate the reporting of background-check delays and denials to local law enforcement when someone tries to purchase a firearm. We can already predict the negative consequences of this poorly designed policy, with innocent individuals trying to buy a gun being inadvertently flagged by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and, shortly after, angrily greeting law enforcement at their front door.

Under existing law, all commercial firearm transactions require the buyer to undergo a background check through the NICS system. At times, delays or denials are returned to the seller by the FBI, allegedly because the agency claims to have conviction records or other evidence that would disqualify someone from firearm purchasing. While the current system will prevent the transfer of firearms if a denial comes up, there is no local law enforcement notification policy. This is because data concretely supports the notion that these delays or denials are nearly always false positives and can be racially tied. 

Justice Department data shows that over 9 out of 10 NICS denials are false positives! Equally compelling, the independent Government Accountability Office has highlighted the near zero prosecution level of those denied. On top of that, economist and gun rights advocate John Lott’s research suggests that members of a minority group are disproportionately denied by the NICS system, compelling bipartisan House Members to insert a required DOJ demographic study on NICS denials into a large gun package they passed in June. 

Read more from The Washington Times here.

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