2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
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So....this article points out that the feds are not prosecuting straw buyers....so making background checks mandatory for private sales is stupid....
Firearm background check liars escape charges
As the number of people requesting background checks to buy firearms is at an all-time high, the number of people charged with lying on the form has significantly dropped in the past dozen years, according to a review by the Department of Justice.
Federal prosecutors nationwide, between 2004 and 2015, charged an average of 32 people a year with knowing they were forbidden from owning a gun but still trying to sneak past a background check, according to a report by the Office of Inspector General released Sept. 28.
That compares with 166 people charged in 2003, when the drop began.
The issue hits home in Texas, which is among the top states for requests.
Alice Tripp, of the Texas Rifle Association, said that such a low number of prosecutions speaks to a system in which authorities aren't going after the people who they know are breaking the law. That weakens the argument to expand the system.
"They are not prosecuted, and that drives me crazy," Tripp said.
"Criminals rejected by (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) are not being penalized, not getting the equivalent of a traffic ticket pinned on them," Tripp said. "Why would we have any confidence in a system stopping crime that is not punishing the criminals it catches now?"
Inspector General Michael Horowitz notes that in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012, in which 20 students and six adults were killed, President Barack Obama called on the Department of Justice to maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
Obama also called for other initiatives, including strengthening background checks and requiring them for all gun sales as part of his Now Is The Time plan to reduce gun violence.
The inspector general found "no significant" change in the number of prosecutions for lying on the background checks since Sandy Hook.
Firearm background check liars escape charges
As the number of people requesting background checks to buy firearms is at an all-time high, the number of people charged with lying on the form has significantly dropped in the past dozen years, according to a review by the Department of Justice.
Federal prosecutors nationwide, between 2004 and 2015, charged an average of 32 people a year with knowing they were forbidden from owning a gun but still trying to sneak past a background check, according to a report by the Office of Inspector General released Sept. 28.
That compares with 166 people charged in 2003, when the drop began.
The issue hits home in Texas, which is among the top states for requests.
Alice Tripp, of the Texas Rifle Association, said that such a low number of prosecutions speaks to a system in which authorities aren't going after the people who they know are breaking the law. That weakens the argument to expand the system.
"They are not prosecuted, and that drives me crazy," Tripp said.
"Criminals rejected by (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) are not being penalized, not getting the equivalent of a traffic ticket pinned on them," Tripp said. "Why would we have any confidence in a system stopping crime that is not punishing the criminals it catches now?"
Inspector General Michael Horowitz notes that in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012, in which 20 students and six adults were killed, President Barack Obama called on the Department of Justice to maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
Obama also called for other initiatives, including strengthening background checks and requiring them for all gun sales as part of his Now Is The Time plan to reduce gun violence.
The inspector general found "no significant" change in the number of prosecutions for lying on the background checks since Sandy Hook.
