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PA: Police Commissioner Flunks Group For Poor Research Of State Gun Checks (1/18/2002
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
PA State Police Commissioner Evanko Flunks Group For Poor Research Of State's Gun-Buyer Screening System HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- State Police Commissioner Paul J.Evanko today said an organization that criticized Pennsylvania's computerizedscreening system for potential firearms buyers should be given a failing gradefor its shoddy research. "The statistics show that the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) isone of the best -- if not the very best -- in the nation for keeping weaponsout of the hands of those who shouldn't have them," Col. Evanko said. "We areextremely proud of PICS." Col. Evanko was responding to a report issued by a Washington, D.C.-basedgroup called Americans for Gun Safety Foundation (AGSF), which gave failinggrades to 22 states, including Pennsylvania, for purportedly having inadequatecomputerized criminal, domestic-violence and mental-disability records for usein screening potential firearms buyers. "The group's grade purportedly is based on data from the U.S. Departmentof Justice and what AGSF terms 'state sources,'" Col. Evanko said. "The factis that the group did not contact State Police for information, which we wouldhave been happy to supply. With accurate information, I think AGSF would havedrawn 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 thecounties to State Police are computerized and 85 percent of the criminalrecords have been computerized," Col. Evanko said. "The only criminal recordsnot yet computerized are those from the 1950s and earlier." Col. Evanko also pointed out that Pennsylvania has a computerizedProtection From Abuse Order (PFA) registry to identify individuals who areprohibited from purchasing a weapon as the result of a PFA. The criminal, mental-health and PFA records are used by PICS along withother records to conduct computerized background checks to determine whether aprospective firearms purchaser is eligible to buy a firearm. The AGSF reports that nationally over a 30-month period, 10,000 felons andothers prohibited by law from buying guns were able to pass background checksand get firearms in other states. "But the report correctly points out that there was not one known case ofa convicted felon or other ineligible person obtaining a weapon inPennsylvania," Col. Evanko said. "That statistic itself proves that ourscreening system works." More than 1.6 million individuals in Pennsylvania have received approvalsthrough PICS to purchase weapons or obtain permits to carry since PICS wasinitiated in July 1998. During the same period, 39,592 persons were deniedapprovals. Col. Evanko also noted that AGSF correctly reported that Pennsylvania isone of only 18 states that require background checks to be conducted whenpurchases are made at gun shows. "Thirty-two states that fail to require criminal background checks at gunshows are flooding the nation with guns used in crimes," according to an AGSFpress release. Col. Evanko said, "AGSF acknowledges that there are no cases of ineligiblepersons obtaining approvals to buy firearms in Pennsylvania, and it admitsthat we are one of only 18 states that have closed the so-called gun showloophole. Based on those facts alone, I think it's clear that Pennsylvaniashould get an 'A' for its efforts." PICS was created as a result of 1995 amendments to the PennsylvaniaUniform Firearms Act. PICS allows State Police to quickly check criminalhistory information and other state and federal databases to determine whetheran applicant is eligible to purchase a firearm. "The primary purpose of PICS is public safety," Col. Evanko said. "PICSis doing the job it was created to perform -- and doing it well." http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-16-2002/0001649729