Background Check Failure

tacreload

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I hope I'm posting this in the proper place.A local guy who has been in the news around here lately is living proof that background checks ain't all they're cracked up to be.He lied on form 4473 and was still permitted to buy a gun with no repercussion.Two previous convictions in 1989 felony to commit armed robbery and plead guilty to misdemeanor domestic abuse.
And he passed the Pa PICS check so he also has a CCW.But he couldn't stay out of trouble so all of this has come crashing down on him.The local paper which is pretty useless did not provide details as to when he was approved for a CCW so I take some of this with a grain of salt.I found all this interesting and thought I'd share it so everyone can see that the system really is seriously flawed.
 
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If you found out about this in the local paper a mound, as opposed to a grain of salt, might be in order here.
 
As disturbing as this all sounds, could you please post a link to this article if at all possible?
 
CoMF,I am too stupid to post a link.If you google Beaver County Times and go to police and fire and look for "Man charged with lying" you should be able to read the article.
 
No system can be more effective than the aggregate level of accurate participation by all of the various agencies involved. In order for background checks to be completely effective it is necessary that every federal, state, and local agency involved (courts, parole, probation, police, immigration, etc) actually participate, and report every bit of information accurately.

A significant number of agencies have never participated in these data bases. Even more have participated, however the information reported has been incomplete, inaccurate, or not submitted in a timely manner.

It must be kept in mind that we are expecting thousands of different agencies, staffed by many thousands of people having varying levels of training/experience/motivation/etc, and equipped with many different information management systems, to all report every tidbit of information required to complete the whole body of knowledge.

When a felony conviction takes place, an adjudication of mental incompetency is entered, an emergency protective order is issued, or a probation violation is reported, etc, etc, etc, all of that information must be processed and entered. Whether or not that happens will depend on a lot of things (staffing, political motivations, etc), and the accuracy of the data input may vary considerably depending on the intelligence/skills/motivations/etc of each and every human link in the "system".

Nothing put together by man, and nothing operated or manipulated by man, will ever produce perfection. While perfection is a worthy goal in any undertaking, the best that can be hoped for is a relatively high level of reliability and accuracy.
 
^^^^As Stated Above^^^^


.
All the stars have to line up.....

And even then, there are other elements that come into play....It's a long and tangled road from
being charged to a conviction.


And these other lit'l matters,
Charges being amended, plea bargains, decisions not to prosecute,
Convictions being expunged and rights restored along with a host of other things and technicalities.

It's not as black and white as the proponents preach....

It's just the same old ruse of 'Doing Something'

To paraphase Mel Brooks as Governor Le Petomane....

Le Petomane is incensed: "We've gotta protect our phoney-baloney jobs,
gentlemen, we must do something about this immediately!"




.
 
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Fox News is reporting today that at the Federal level the priority has been removed from background check violations and (I believe) increased on drug violations. As much as I think the drug laws need better enforcement this has become an embarrassment to the folks pushing for Uniform background checks. I should think so! Let me get this right, we want to increase the number of background checks at the same time we are backing off enforcement of existing background checks, right? For what purpose do we want to have universal background checks? How will passing a law that we don't intend to enforce help anything?

Obama, Holder Called Out for Not Enforcing Existing Gun Laws

I lean slightly toward favoring background checks assuming they are not turned into a form of registration and assuming of course the law is enforced. Statistics show that people actually do try and buy guns through legal channels when they are legally prohibited from doing so.

Of course, none of this would have prevented the Sandy Hook massacre or any other high profile recent case i can think of.
 
Like any other "system," it's only as good as the info in it. Garbage in/garbage out.
 
No system can be more effective than the aggregate level of accurate participation by all of the various agencies involved. In order for background checks to be completely effective it is necessary that every federal, state, and local agency involved (courts, parole, probation, police, immigration, etc) actually participate, and report every bit of information accurately.

A significant number of agencies have never participated in these data bases. Even more have participated, however the information reported has been incomplete, inaccurate, or not submitted in a timely manner.

It must be kept in mind that we are expecting thousands of different agencies, staffed by many thousands of people having varying levels of training/experience/motivation/etc, and equipped with many different information management systems, to all report every tidbit of information required to complete the whole body of knowledge.

When a felony conviction takes place, an adjudication of mental incompetency is entered, an emergency protective order is issued, or a probation violation is reported, etc, etc, etc, all of that information must be processed and entered. Whether or not that happens will depend on a lot of things (staffing, political motivations, etc), and the accuracy of the data input may vary considerably depending on the intelligence/skills/motivations/etc of each and every human link in the "system".

Nothing put together by man, and nothing operated or manipulated by man, will ever produce perfection. While perfection is a worthy goal in any undertaking, the best that can be hoped for is a relatively high level of reliability and accuracy.

And because the system is imperfect, it is useless and there is no need for these useless checks. I worry more,about the ones put into the system who don't belong in it, than I worry about the misfits who are not put into it. Perhaps the only thing that may keep us free is the utter incompetence of our government.
 
Having had a FFL for about 30 yrs..I know of inaccuracies that happen all the time. I had a customer who had a criminal record. He applied for and received relief from disabilities from the BATF and it was read into the congressional record. The guy had copies of everything. He could buy guns with a copy of the relief from disabilities. I chose to get a copy but he was told to just answer NO where it asked if he had ever been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in jail..not receiving a year in jail... just if it was punishable by that term or more. He attempted to buy a firearm in Pa and was denied...by the Pics check. They wanted to prosecute him for lying on the form. Even with his letter of relief from disabilities he could not buy a firearm in Pa.. At the same time he had an explosives permit/license issued by the State of Pa..and it turned out the crime that he had commited was not what was the actual final guilty charge. He can still buy firearms in his state of residence(Delaware) but not in Pa. So just for grins and giggles the laws don't always apply and the records are not always correct
 
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