http://www.globe.com/dailynews/014/region/Gun_owners_sue_state_over_back:.shtm
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Gun Owners Sue State Over Background Checks

By Associated Press, 1/14/2000 07:33

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Three Vermont lawmakers and other gun owners are
suing state officials in federal court over enforcement of the Brady
gun control law.

Sen. Julius Canns, R-Caledonia, Rep. Fred Maslack, R-Poultney, and
Rep. Neil Randall, I-Bradford, have joined the Gun Owners of Vermont
and several private citizens to sue Attorney General William Sorrell,
Public Safety Commissioner James Walton and Chittenden County Sheriff
Kevin McLaughlin.

The suit, filed in Burlington, is based on the state’s contract with
McLaughlin to perform criminal background checks of gun purchasers
under the federal Brady law.

It says Gov. Howard Dean’s administration did not receive specific
legislative authority to assign the contract in the first place, and
McLaughlin has illegally denied gun purchases by Vermont citizens.

Fraud, conspiracy, violation of the separation of powers, denial of
constitutionally protected civil rights, and breach of public duty
are all included as counts against the defendants. The suit is being
handled by Middlebury lawyer and gun-rights activist Cindy Hill.

”This suit represents the only recourse someone has if they feel
Sheriff McLaughlin has done them wrong,” Maslack said on Thursday.
”He is operating under color of law with no legislative
authorization.”

McLaughlin has continued making the checks despite the lapse of the
contract. Walton said McLaughlin would be paid out of his
department’s operating budget, pending legislative approval of added
funds in the budget adjustment.

Maslack said that amounted to a ”handshake deal” that usurped the
Legislature’s authority over police functions in Vermont.

Under the Brady law, licensed sellers of handguns and most long guns
must check with a designated authority to make sure the buyer has not
committed any of a variety of crimes, including felonies or
domestic-violence misdemeanors.

The state has discretion over whether the checks should be handled by
the FBI or by the state.

Since he began the duties in November 1998, McLaughlin has performed
close to 23,000 checks and issued roughly 650 denials to prospective
gun-buyers, he said this week. He checks both the FBI’s records and
state records compiled by the Vermont Crime Information Center.
According to Max Schleueter, the director of the center, at least 93
people were denied gun purchases who would not have been denied had
FBI records alone been checked.

But according to the lawsuit, several gun purchases were denied based
on incorrect information from the state center, or McLaughlin’s
incorrect interpretations of the data.

This is Max Schleueter not exactly being complete in his data. They do not
mention the number of erroneous denials and do not subtract them from their
numbers they throw up. Only in government are mistakes and failures counted
in the numbers of successes. They also do not mention that the reason that
many of the 93 that the FBI would not have caught IS BECAUSE IN ORDER TO SAVE
MONEY, Vermont does not submit Relief from Abuse Orders or WANTED CRIMINALS
to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer system.

By this brilliant act, a Vermont fugitive from justice can travel across any
state line and buy a gun, because we are saving money to spend a $138,000 a
year to have Sheriff McLaughin perform checks that we can get done for free
from the FBI.

Is this not the dumbest thing you have EVER heard being done to stop crime?
How do I know this is the reason we are not spending the money? Because I
got this information from a Vermont State Police Internal Memorandum from Max
Schleueter, the director of the Vermont Criminal Information Center, of the
Vermont State Police.

I read this statement from the State Police document to the Joint House and
Senate Government Operations Committee at a Public Hearing in the State House
during the evening of Thursday, January 13th. The members of the committee
seemed quite concerned and the House Government Operations Chairperson agreed
to hold hearings on the matter.

Evan