Lawmakers target gun-check exemption

WASHINGTON — Dylann Roof killed nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., using a firearm he never should have had.

That discovery prompted Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to take legislative action.

But since that 2015 shooting, the number of people able to get a firearm without a complete background check has jumped nationwide — and congressional action is at a standstill.

Blumenthal introduced the “No Check, No Sale” bill in October to change a provision in federal law that allows a gun sale to be completed after 72 hours, even if the FBI has not finished a background check.

The 72-hour rule was inserted at the behest of gun-rights supporters who worried that bureaucratic fumbling might delay a lawful gun purchase.

“No Check, No Sale” has withered in Congress over the past eight months despite an uptick in people purchasing firearms without a fully completed background check.

The percentage of people purchasing a gun without a complete background check rose from 2.8 to about 3.6 percent between 2014 and 2017, according to ThinkProgress data released earlier this year. That 3.6 percent translates into more than 300,000 people purchasing a gun in 2017 without the federally licensed firearms dealer finishing a background check because 72 hours had elapsed.

Blumenthal said the numbers are “alarming, given a gaping loophole” in the FBI’s enforcement of background checks which allow individuals to purchase a gun in 28 states if the FBI does not clear them within 72 hours.

“No check, no sale must be the rule,” he said.

Going unnoticed

The bill sprouted from rising gun violence concerns, like the incident in Charleston. Roof, the Charleston shooter, walked into a gun shop in 2015 and purchased a .45-caliber Glock handgun. Since he had been charged with a felony the previous year, he was ineligible under law to buy a gun.

The charge went unflagged during the 72hour period for the background check because of confusion over which South Carolina jurisdiction was responsible for the prosecution. Once the time expired, Roof was able to buy the gun in April and use it in the church massacre two months later.

The FBI later admitted confusion in Roof ’s background check, prompting an investigation into their procedures.

The incident illustrated the gaps that exist in the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which processed 25.2 million background-check requests in 2017. A gunman was able to get a weapon and kill more than 20 churchgoers in Sutherland Springs, Texas, last year because his domestic violence conviction hadn’t been entered into NICS.

While Congress attempts to give states incentives and cash to input relevant records into NICS, the 72-hour rule stands out in the minds of gun-control advocates as something that should be easy to fix.

How long is too long?

Background checks were first mandated under the 1993 Brady Law, which required states to impose a five-day waiting period before someone buys a firearm to allow time for a proper check.

As the fully computerized backgroundcheck system came into existence, the five-day wait was no longer a requirement. But in a compromise, Congress agreed to the 72-hour rule in what lawmakers viewed as a balance between a purchaser’s rights and the publicsafety need for a complete background check.

Under federal law, licensed gun dealers must enter a customer’s information into NICS. The system sorts through its database of state-submitted information for possible disqualifications, which include a felony conviction, a permanent domestic-violence restraining order, adjudication as a “mental defective” or illegal immigration status.

But in 18 states, including Connecticut, background checks are conducted within each respective jurisdiction and processed through a local database. If a background check is not processed within 72 hours, the process is extended to a 30-day deadline.

Blumenthal and Sen. Chris Murphy, DConn., — a co-author of the bill — blame a GOP-controlled Congress for failing to push the “No Check, No Sale” measure forward.

“It’s pretty simple — if you can’t pass a background check, you shouldn’t be able to get a gun,” Murphy said of the bill. “It’s a matter of political power, and Republicans are blocking every effort to change our gun laws.”

But Scott Wilson, the president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, said there should be more emphasis on improving communication between state and federal agencies with faster technology, rather than extending a 72-hour background check.

“In a day and age of computer and instant background checks, I can’t see what the holdup is,” he said. “They should be faster — I think 72 hours is very generous.”