Guns slip through Nevada background checks

[SecularMotion]

RENO, Nev. (AP) — At least three dozen people failed background checks in the past year but kept guns they purchased because the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives no longer has agents in northern Nevada to retrieve the weapons, a newspaper report has found.

The Nevada Department of Public Safety in charge of conducting the background checks says it followed normal procedures and sent letters to the Reno ATF office asking agents to take back firearms from 36 people.

But the Reno Gazette-Journal reported Sunday that most Reno ATF agents transferred out of the area after a dispute erupted between the ATF office and local federal prosecutors.

The clash followed a September 2011 letter from an assistant U.S. attorney to the ATF that their cases wouldn't be prosecuted until unnamed "issues" were resolved.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Report-Guns-slip-through-Nevada-background-checks-4057463.php#ixzz2DndxAyDY

[oneshooter]

1. Something is wrong here.

If you fail the NCIS check, you do not get to keep the weapon! The check is suppose to be done BEFORE the firearm is sold. Apparently some FFL dealers need additional training.
I don't know if there is a fine for this type of idiocy, but there needs to be an investigation and some butt kicking.

[Remmah2]

2. Apparently we need to pass gun control laws to make bureaucrats do their jobs.

Yeah, blame the average citizen. There should be a one strike law for government officials.

[petronius]

4. The RGJ article says the people lied or gave inaccurate information on

their forms:

In the past year in Nevada, at least 36 people either lied or gave inaccurate information when they filled out a form to purchase a gun, according to the Nevada Department of Public Safety, the agency in charge of conducting background checks. When the department discovered that bogus information, they followed normal procedures and sent letters to the Reno ATF office asking the agents to take back the firearms.

Since no one at ATF acted on those requests, the guns are likely still on the street and none of the people who bought the guns have faced federal charges related to lying or providing the inaccurate information for their background check or being a felon in possession of a firearm.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20121118/NEWS/311180048/ATF-U-S-Attorney-rift-leaves-guns-wrong-hands-Northern-Nevada?nclick_check=1

So perhaps the dealer proceeded normally and properly, and the false info was only discovered later?

Nevada dealers go through a state point of contact for background checks (http://nvrepository.state.nv.us/pos.shtml), so it would be interesting to know - for Nevada residents, anyway - how the falsehoods were detected and what information is being retained/reevaluated by the POC.

But no matter what, feuds between federal entities that result in un-investigated crimes require that butt kicking you mention, no matter who started it...

[russ1943]

6. Yea, it is wrong, but it isn't illegal for the FFL to sell the firearm.

No need for additional training, investigation nor butt-kicking, it is the way the gun enthusiasts insisted it be. It is standard operating procedure. If the FFL still has not received a “deny” response from NCIS after 72hrs. they (the FFL) can legally sell the firearm and about 3,000 do every year.
The RGJ article notes “A Justice Department 2010 report on the background check system said 2,955 firearm retrieval requests were sent to ATF offices nationwide that year. In 2011, 3,166 firearm retrieval letters were sent to ATF offices.”
Yea, something is wrong here.

[slackmaster]

3. I suggest calling your members of Congress and asking them to increase funding for the BATFE

The problem here is that people keep re-electing the same clowns who have their priorities messed up.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

5. Thanks

Apparently this is another example (F&F) of the ATF not doing its job. Your tax dollars at work.

IMHO, the ATF had no business being involved with gun running outside the border. It was the ATF's job to interdict weapons prior to or after an illegal domestic purchase. They failed. This is another example of the same kind of failure.

90% of our taxes either buy nothing, buy what no one needs and/or go to burden the innocent and uninvolved.