As gun sales soar, at least one firearm sold to ineligible person

Colorado investigators say a firearm prematurely sold to someone before a federal background check was completed has been retrieved, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

The sale happened because federal rules allow a licensed firearms dealer to complete a sale if the background check is not finished within the three business days required by law. The state’s been overloaded with background check requests over the past several weeks as gun sales have soared amid the coronavirus pandemic. More than 12,200 of them were sold in the week before April 1, double the number from the year before, CBI has said. The current backlog is more than 9,000 requests, the agency said.

Although a number of licensed dealers have told CBI they would wait for the checks to be completed, which have been averaging about six days, one chose otherwise, CBI spokeswoman Sue Medina said. She would not offer any details and did not indicate that the weapon has been retrieved.

“It is the discretion of the licensed firearms dealer whether or not they choose to release the firearm after three business days, per federal guidelines,” Medina said in an email to The Denver Post. “That being said, we strongly encourage (licensed dealers) to hold the firearm(s) until the background checks are completed.”

The sale prompted two groups Friday to publicly request Gov. Jared Polis to limit gun sales only to those with a completed background check.

“With a backlog of some 9,000 background checks and a reduced staff due to COVID-19, the CBI is under enormous pressure,” Alana Smart, co-chair of Colorado Faith Communities United, said in a news release. “A similar occurrence (the sale of a weapon without a full background check) led to the 2015 massacre of nine members at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston.”

Nine people were killed, all African-American, in a bible study group in Charleston, S.C. Three other shooting victims survived. The shooter was later sentenced to death following a federal trial in 2016, and then a life sentence after later pleading guilty to state charges.

It’s unclear if Polis could issue such an order.