N E W S R E L E A S E COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
State Police Department
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol
Harrisburg, PA 17120

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jack J. Lewis
Tpr. Linette G. Quinn
(717)
783-5556

STATE POLICE COMMISSIONER EVANKO FLUNKS GROUP FOR POOR RESEARCH
OF STATE?S GUN-BUYER SCREENING SYSTEM

HARRISBURG (Jan. 16) — State Police Commissioner Paul J. Evanko today said an
organization that criticized Pennsylvania?s computerized screening system for
potential firearms buyers should be given a failing grade for its shoddy
research.
?The statistics show that the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) is one
of the best — if not the very best — in the nation for keeping weapons out of
the hands of those who shouldn?t have them,? Col. Evanko said. ?We are
extremely proud of PICS.?
Col. Evanko was responding to a report issued by a Washington, D.C.-based group
called Americans for Gun Safety Foundation (AGSF), which gave failing grades to
22 states, including Pennsylvania, for purportedly having inadequate
computerized criminal, domestic-violence and mental-disability records for use
in screening potential firearms buyers.
?The group?s grade purportedly is based on data from the U.S. Department of
Justice and what AGSF terms ?state sources,?? Col.
Evanko said. ?The fact is that the group did not contact State
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Police for information, which we would have been happy to supply. With
accurate information, I think AGSF would have drawn a different conclusion.?
Col. Evanko said the AGSF report falsely claims:
? That Pennsylvania does not computerize mental-health records that are
used do determine whether an individual is permitted to purchase a weapon or
obtain a permit to carry a firearm; and
? Only 46 percent of the state?s criminal records are computerized.
?The truth is that all of the mental-health records provided by the counties to
State Police are computerized and 85 percent of the criminal records have been
computerized,? Col. Evanko said. ?The only criminal records not yet
computerized are those from the 1950s and earlier.?
Col. Evanko also pointed out that Pennsylvania has a computerized Protection
From Abuse Order (PFA) registry to identify individuals who are prohibited from
purchasing a weapon as the result of a PFA.
The criminal, mental-health and PFA records are used by PICS along with other
records to conduct computerized background checks to determine whether a
prospective firearms purchaser is eligible to buy a firearm.
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The AGSF reports that nationally over a 30-month period, 10,000 felons and
others prohibited by law from buying guns were able to pass background checks
and get firearms in other states.
?But the report correctly points out that there was not one known case of a
convicted felon or other ineligible person obtaining a weapon in Pennsylvania,?
Col. Evanko said. ?That statistic itself proves that our screening system
works.?
More than 1.6 million individuals in Pennsylvania have received approvals
through PICS to purchase weapons or obtain permits to carry since PICS was
initiated in July 1998. During the same period, 39,592 persons were denied
approvals.
Col. Evanko also noted that AGSF correctly reported that Pennsylvania is one of
only 18 states that require background checks to be conducted when purchases
are made at gun shows.
?Thirty-two states that fail to require criminal background checks at gun shows
are flooding the nation with guns used in crimes,? according to an AGSF press
release.
Col. Evanko said, ?AGSF acknowledges that there are no cases of ineligible
persons obtaining approvals to buy firearms in Pennsylvania, and it admits that
we are one of only 18 states that have closed the so-called gun show loophole.
Based on those facts
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Page 4 — COL. EVANKO SAYS PA?S GUN-BUYER SCREENING SYSTEM DESERVES ?A?

alone, I think it?s clear that Pennsylvania should get an ?A? for its efforts.?
PICS was created as a result of 1995 amendments to the Pennsylvania Uniform
Firearms Act. PICS allows State Police to quickly check criminal history
information and other state and federal databases to determine whether an
applicant is eligible to purchase a firearm.
?The primary purpose of PICS is public safety,? Col. Evanko said. ?PICS is
doing the job it was created to perform — and doing it well.?
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