Some criminals make it through background checks to purchase guns

In the last two and-a-half years, nearly 75 Iowans who aren’t legally allowed to own guns were able to buy them anyway. A Report titled “Broken Records” says in a period of 30 months, ten thousand felons were allowed to buy guns in America, even though they’re supposed to be banned from doing so. Jim Kessler is with the “Americans for Gun Safety Foundation.”He says from 1993-98 you’d fill out a form when you bought a gun and the sheriff would start a background check, but the new system has a state or federal agency doing computer checks. Now he says 72-percent of those checks are done in three minutes, and within two hours 95-percent have been completed, but the last five percent is the problem. Kessler says those are people who were arrested for a felony…but whether or not they were ever convicted is info that was never put onto a computer system. Kessler says if the data can’t be found after three days, the dealer can sell the gun to a buyer without a completed background check. Kessler says Iowa’s done a pretty good job, putting 84-percent of the criminal records on a database. And he says the state’s done a good job computerizing domestic-violence records, but mental-health patients who were committed aren’t in the records, so they can buy a forbidden gun. Iowa’s B-plus is the best rating and many states including Nebraska got an F from the group. Kessler says the “Americans for Gun Safety Foundation” occupies the middle ground between gun-control advocates and second-amendment supporters who see most efforts to reduce gun violence as attempts to take away firearms from private owners. They support the right to own a gun, but think responsibilities come with that, and the group supports enforcing laws on the books to keep guns away from criminals and kids.