by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor

The latest report from the General Accounting Office (GAO), which concluded that criminals evade the Brady Law background check requirements for prospective gun buyers by using fake ID, comes as “no surprise” and merely “highlights the failure of feel-good law enforcement methods,” according to Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA).

Barr, a former federal prosecutor, issued a statement on March 21 after the media played up the GAO findings that criminals use fake ID to bypass the National Instant Check System (NICS) when buying from licensed dealers. The use of fake ID is another variant of the “straw purchase” technique in which a prohibited person has someone who can pass the background check pose as the real buyer. Both the use of fake ID or a “straw” buyer are illegal.

“Today’s report, prepared by and for House Democrats, should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who understands even elementary law enforcement,” Barr said in his statement. “Yet, gun control advocates express outrage and indignation that fake identification can be used to evade certain paperwork requirements.

“Fake IDs are a national problem that allow criminals to evade all sorts of legal barriers. In fact, it only stands to reason that in the case of background checks, those persons already prohibited from purchasing weapons will be the ones most likely to obtain false identification documents. If teen-agers are able to use fake IDs to buy alcohol with relative ease and illegal aliens can obtain fake Social Security cards for a few dollars, be assured those desperate to obtain a firearm can and will go to much greater lengths to do so,” Barr continued.

Identity theft and forged or bogus identification documents, or the use of illegally obtained credit cards, are common practices that have already received lots of media attention. Such activities are against federal and state laws, but do not deter criminals who violate all sorts of laws by profession.

“If anything,” Barr continued, “this report highlights the failure of feel-good law enforcement methods promoted time and again by those on the left. If these individuals were serious about keeping firearms out of the hands of criminals they would support, as I do, aggressive prosecution of the criminal laws already on the books, not band-aid approaches anyone with access to a camera and laser printer could circumvent.”

Associated Press began one report of the GAO findings with the following breathless lead: “Undercover congressional investigators using fake IDs were able to skirt mandatory background checks and purchase guns in all of the five states where they tried….

“The General Accounting Office study concluded that the national background check system for purchasing guns ‘cannot ensure that the prospective purchaser is not a felon,’ ” Associated Press continued.

The system checks only whether the prospective gun buyer had a criminal history, but does not require any check to see whether the name or identification being used by the buyer is real.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), a prominent anti-gunner in the House of Representatives, asked the GAO’s office of special investigations to conduct an undercover probe into the use of false IDs to purchase firearms.

The GAO report is part of a larger study—“Lying and Buying: Using False Information to Obtain Firearms”—prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Government Reform Committee. Waxman is the committee’s ranking Democrat.

GAO investigators, using fake identification documents, were able to buy guns from licensed dealers in Virginia, West Virginia, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona.

According to the reports, GAO staffers used off-the-shelf software to create counterfeit drivers licenses for the five states, inventing fictitious names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. Two undercover GAO agents then went to randomly selected gun stores and gun shops where they filmed their purchases of rifles, handguns and ammunition.

ABC television news gave the story an extra twist, saying “undercover agents attempting to use false identifications to buy guns had a 100% success rate, casting doubt on the effectiveness of the national background check system….”

It would appear that the GAO operatives didn’t just attempt to use forged ID documents, but actually did so. This suggests that government agents—like television and print reporters—can violate existing laws with impunity whenever they need a new story or a prod for new legislation.

Various wire service, newspaper and television news reports used items from the GAO report to target antique guns and replicas, and to push for more stringent background check regulations.

Most quoted a spokesman for the Violence Policy Center, suggesting a number of new amendments to the Brady Law which would extend the background check and place a greater burden upon licensed dealers.

One story even suggested that a dealer told GAO undercover agents that a certain type of 9mm ammunition would be the best to use to defeat the kind of soft body armor that is used by most law enforcement officers.