Officials dispute that felons buy guns
A study of background checks alleges hundreds of Kansans bought guns
illegally.

***Not so, ATF and KBI agents say.******

By Ron Sylvester
The Wichita Eagle

State and federal officials challenged the accuracy of a report issued
Wednesday that claimed an inadequate system of criminal background checks
allowed 10,000 felons to buy guns over the past three years.

The report by Americans for Gun Safety, a not-for-profit group in
Washington, D.C., listed 375 felons or otherwise disqualified Kansans as
buying guns in the past 30 months. The report blamed a lack of computer
access to criminal records as a reason felons were able to purchase the
weapons.

The report based its findings on numbers obtained from the U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms about guns that were issued because background
checks took longer than the required three days.

Under federal law, people may purchase guns if a criminal background check
hasn’t shown the person ineligible within three business days.

But an ATF official in Kansas City said those delayed reports don’t always
correlate with an illegal purchase.

“We check all those out,” said Larry Scott, ATF spokesman, of the delayed
reports. “And in a great many cases, it turns out the person shouldn’t have
been blocked anyway. They may just have had the same name (as someone with a
criminal record).”

And if the report shows the person shouldn’t have the gun, the ATF then
seizes the gun, he said.

Officials at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, said that less
than half of all criminal records are automated by computer. But all the
state’s arrest records are available to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal
Background Check System (NICS). NICS is the system in place to check gun
buyers.

Kansas arrest records provided to NICS date back to 1939, said KBI spokesman
Kyle Smith. Records of convictions, however, only go back as far as 1996.

“We didn’t automate all of them back to 1939, because some of those cases
involved people who are dead,” Smith said.

If someone with an arrest record and a conviction prior to 1996 tries to buy
a gun, it sets off a flag in the NICS. The potential purchaser must then
wait up to three days for authorities to determine the disposition of the
case.

Wednesday’s report blames delayed reports and faulty records for allowing
9,976 people to improperly buy guns.

“But just because 375 checks weren’t complete within the three days doesn’t
mean that guy got the gun,” Smith said.

Sometimes, the delays and faulty records keep law-abiding citizens from
purchasing firearms.

“In about 60 percent of the cases, there are wrongful denials,” said Wichita
lawyer Phil Journey, who has represented clients who have seen their denials
reversed on appeal.

Bill Vinduska, owner of the Bullseye Indoor Shooting Range, pays the city of
Wichita $300 a year to do background checks for his business, which also
sells guns. He said he’s confident the system works.

“As long as I follow the letter of the law and complete all the checks and
balances, I’m not concerned that anyone I sell a gun to shouldn’t have it,”
he said.

Still, Journey said gun advocates in Kansas also have lobbied for years to
improve the state’s automated background check system, such as improving
tracking on domestic violence histories and mental health problems.

Although the KBI says it does track domestic violence court cases, Journey
said the system neglects those with outstanding criminal warrants and
restraining orders against abusive spouses.

Wednesday’s report lists Kansas as one of only five states that doesn’t
allow for reporting of restraining orders. Kansas also is one of 33 states
that doesn’t report gun buyers who have severe mental health histories.

The KBI said that’s an issue the Legislature has to address because mental
health records are inaccessible to state law enforcement officials without a
court order.

Journey, however, pointed to attempts in 1994 to pass a bill that protected
the privacy of the individuals while allowing the mental health records to
be used in background checks.