How States Undermine Gun Background Check System

Submitting state mental health records to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) restricts individuals likely to commit acts of gun violence from purchasing firearms.

But three states – New Hampshire, Montana and Wyoming – have partly failed to comply, leaving the door open for people who intend to harm themselves or others to purchase guns, reports USA Today

In each of those three states, participation in NICS system is not mandatory. As a result, Montana submitted just 36 records, for example. New Hampshire presented 657 records. In contrast, Hawaii – with about the same population as New Hampshire – submitted nearly 10,000 mental health records.

The lack of consistency illustrates how the existing system can be undermined by state non-compliance.

“For years, agencies and states haven’t complied with the law, failing to upload these critical records without consequence,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who has been advocating for “fixes” to the NICS system.

“Just one record that’s not properly reported can lead to tragedy.”

Records from the three states’ government-run mental health facilities show hundreds of more people involuntarily committed – all of whom would have already been submitted into NICS.

In 2018, President Donald Trump signed a bill pumping $615 million into states to close loopholes and shore up reporting into the FBI’s system.

The bill came in the wake of a Sutherland, Tx., church shooting where the gunman killed 26 people. The gunman’s criminal record would have restricted him from purchasing a weapon if it were submitted to the NICS.

While applying background checks to private sales has failed, gun rights lobbyists and gun safety groups have coalesced around strengthening NICS.

Still, the most recent bipartisan gun legislation, which strengthens background checks, has stalled in the Senate, Reuters reports.

Texas Senator John Cornyn, who led the negotiations on the recent bill and supported the 2018 bill signed into law by Trump, walked out of present discussions on Thursday.

The two sides clashed over how to incentivize the so-called “red flag laws” and define the “boyfriend” loophole, allowing unmarried abusive intimate partners to bypass gun restrictions.