13,000 criminal background checks on prospective gun buyers
Date: Sep 17, 2005 12:10 PM
DATE: 2005.09.16
CATEGORY: General and national news
PUBLICATION: bnw
WORD COUNT: 73

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Katrina-Guns

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WASHINGTON — Law enforcement officials say people in Louisiana rushed to buy guns
in the days following hurricane Katrina.

F-B-I officials say more than 13-thousand criminal background checks were requested
on prospective gun buyers in the first 12 days of September. That’s as many as were
requested for the entire month a year ago.

Several gun merchants interviewed say media reports of looting in New Orleans fed
the spike in gun purchases. Law enforcement officials are still trying to track
down thousands of weapons that were lost or stolen.