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GAO: Destroying gun records after one day would be
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
GAO: Destroying gun records after one day would be boon for criminals
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Washington-AP -- Congressional investigators say shortening the time the government keeps firearm records could make it easier for criminals to get guns.
Records on people who try to purchase guns are now kept on file for three months, but Attorney General John Ashcroft has suggested they be destroyed much sooner -- after one business day.
Gun rights groups say keeping the records is an invasion of privacy.
But the General Accounting Office says there would be "public safety implications" if the the F-B-I isn't able to look for phony transactions or mistaken approvals.
The G-A-O says only seven of 235 illegal gun sales between July 2001 and January 2002 were noticed after one day.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check system electronically checks law enforcement records while gun buyers are waiting to make purchases.
Felons, drug users and people subject to domestic violence restraining orders are among those not permitted to buy guns.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=868749&nav=4QcS4R25AI6q
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Email story to a friend
Washington-AP -- Congressional investigators say shortening the time the government keeps firearm records could make it easier for criminals to get guns.
Records on people who try to purchase guns are now kept on file for three months, but Attorney General John Ashcroft has suggested they be destroyed much sooner -- after one business day.
Gun rights groups say keeping the records is an invasion of privacy.
But the General Accounting Office says there would be "public safety implications" if the the F-B-I isn't able to look for phony transactions or mistaken approvals.
The G-A-O says only seven of 235 illegal gun sales between July 2001 and January 2002 were noticed after one day.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check system electronically checks law enforcement records while gun buyers are waiting to make purchases.
Felons, drug users and people subject to domestic violence restraining orders are among those not permitted to buy guns.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=868749&nav=4QcS4R25AI6q
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878