On October 8, the House approved, by voice vote, legislation (H.R. 4757) designed to improve criminal background checks on the purchase of firearms.
Sponsored by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), the bill would provide grants to encourage states to update or establish computerized records of individuals who are ineligible to possess a firearm. Persons disqualified from owning firearms include:
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States would be required to transmit their records in a timely fashion to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for insertion into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Established in 1994 under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (P.L. 103-159), NICS serves as a national database in conducting required background checks on individuals who purchase a firearm.
The legislation also would require federal agencies, such as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, to provide the FBI with records of individuals ineligible to buy firearms. Additionally, H.R. 4757 would authorize $250 million for each of FY2003 through FY2005 for the state grant program to improve the databases used to determine individuals’ eligibility to purchase firearms. The bill also would authorize $125 million annually from FY2003 through FY2005 for grants to state courts to improve the automation and transmittal of criminal records. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation would cost $957 million over five years, from FY2003 through FY2007.
“Right now, 35 million records of people who are prohibited by law from owning a firearm are missing from the various databases that make up the NICS system,” asserted Rep. McCarthy. “That means it’s nearly impossible to stop those under a restraining order, the severely mentally ill, and illegal aliens from passing a background check and obtaining a firearm,” she added.
Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD) agreed. “Unfortunately eight years after the passage of the Brady Act, the national background check system is still not instant or up-to-date, as on average, only 58 percent of the felony background check records have been computerized,” she said. “This bill closes a loophole of a bill already on the books and increases public safety at a time when it is desperately needed,” she added.
